


Our Fathers' Broken Legacies

by FireRadiant



Category: I Frankenstein (2014)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-23
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2018-03-31 21:55:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 93,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3994315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireRadiant/pseuds/FireRadiant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two hundred years after the demons' first attempt to raise their fallen the world has become a desolate shadow of what it had been. Adam begins to find that he is now more human that the humans around him when he is rescued from a nearly-fatal wounding by a doctor who hides more scars than Adam himself possesses. Together they forge a shaky alliance between the 'humans' that are left and the Gargoyle Order to discover a way to combat the demons that seek once again to dominate the world. The answer, however is not as simple as it seems, nor is Adam's life the only thing that can be taken from him now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This came as a result of a very odd dream after watching this movie. It evolved of course, but the general concept remained the same. Its a rather philosophical work, but there is goign to be some fluff and possibly romance later on. After all what good is learning to be human if you can't love? Enjoy!

            It was raining.

            Naturally.

            He supposed it would be too much to ask that it be dry and warm if after 400 years his body finally decided it could get sick. No, he should have expected the rain and the cold. It was spring in England after all, and despite the toll the war had taken on the world and its natural patterns, the UK still managed to hang on to that one scrap of itself.

            Adam stumbled over another pile of debris that littered the stairwell, water dripping from his hair into his eyes as he made his way through. Pain and nausea washed over him as he tripped, sending the hallway into a spasm of shifting shadows. He grit his teeth and rested against a wall, waiting for his vision to normalize. His rain-drenched coat, more tattered now than it had ever been, weighed heavily on his shoulders.

            “Fuuh-uuck…” Adam whispered and pressed his fingers into his eyes. He rarely felt desperate anymore. He rarely felt scared.

            Now he felt… sick.

 

            The demon had been quick. Not the toughest Adam had ever descended, but quick. He had surprised a nest of them in London; a month’s worth of hunting and reconnaissance. Most of them had fled; a few truly stupid ones had stayed. Gargoyles watching from the sky had hunted the escapees. The Order still follow him after all this time. Leonore was still afraid he would injure humans in his quest to single-handedly end her war. He had been grateful for their presence that night, though. It meant the remainder of the nest was his, and he annihilated them. After all these years, all the decades, it still felt good.

            Even when he went face to face with the last one standing, he had done so with no small amount of primal joy. The thing had wormed her way in close, within the reach of his sticks. He was used to ending it before they got that close, but she had danced into his arms before he had time to think and struck. The cut she had dealt was small, and that had been his downfall. He had laughed it off and walked past her without a thought as she descended in the usual cloud of fire and ash. The blood had stopped flowing by the time he left the nest for God’s sake. How could he have known? He had snuck away from his handlers, his Gargoyle watchers while they were occupied demolishing the fugitive demons and left London far behind, following the clues left to him in the nest on to his next hunt.

 

            He should have known. But here he was. Sick.

            “Stupid.” Adam chided himself for the twenty-sixth time since the first floor.

            His vision righted itself partially and he started off again, watching his footing more carefully.

            “She had to be on the seventh floor…” He groaned as the shadows fled under the beam of his flashlight. “Just _had_ to be the seventh.”

            Bracing one hand against the wall he shuffled onwards to the next level of the stairwell. It wasn’t the best situation to put himself in; dark corners, tight spaces, not at peak fighting performance. But what choice did he have? He needed a doctor, a discrete one, and by all local accounts this one was the ticket. Forcing himself to stay upright he began to trudge diligently up the flight of stairs. Adam was nothing if not determined.

 

            After what seemed like hours of the stairs spinning around him Adam finally pushed the door marked with a faded ‘7’ open. It creaked on its hinged and he winced and froze in the darkness. After a few heartbeats of silence he slipped through the small opening he had made, fearful of making more noise. It was drier up here, Adam noted. The air here lacked the musty tang that had assaulted his nostrils in the lower levels of the building and he breathed deeply. He clicked his flashlight off as he made his way cautiously to the only door that broke the hallway.

            It was marked in one corner by the same symbol he had seen scrawled on buildings and underpasses throughout the city in spray paint or sometimes in chalk; A two-headed snake inside of a triangle. The symbol had led him here after the bum he had shared a dry corner of an abandoned building with had enlightened him to its meaning.

            “It means a helper. You sick? Follow it. You hungry? Follow it. Need a place for the night? Follow it and she give you.”

            Adam had tried to ask who ‘she’ was but the bum had waved him away with no answer. It had sparked his curiosity, and his caution. There had been many recommended ‘helpers’ before who had all turned him away, some with words, some with stones (although, truth be told, there hadn’t been any of those since the 1930s). Adam was less afraid of people now, since Terra and her friendship nearly two hundred years ago. But the cautionary, instinctual voice in the back of his mind had not been silenced despite having met a few good humans and so he resisted the urge to find help, treating himself as best he could. Doctors, and everything that surrounded them, made him especially nervous. The few clinics he had been in with Terra reminded him too much of his origins; the table, the needles and sutures. But when the fever had begun to interfere with his ability to sleep, and eventually to hunt Adam had finally given in and sought out the ‘helper’, caution be damned.

            Now, though, looking at the door which could give him what he needed a very tiny hope sparked in him. Light, warm light, shone out under the door and music was floating, muffled just beyond it.

            Adam paused. He hadn’t seen lights from outside the building. This part of the city must have been dead for years, cut from the grid to power the Nerium and citadel city. The silence outside was enough evidence of that. But the light, the warm air and the music, especially the music… the building was live! Despite his illness and urgency, he couldn’t resist listening.

            Magnum Mysterium. A chorus, very old and faded. He hadn’t heard that song in decades, almost a century now. It brought a rush of memory back to him; the cathedral he wouldn’t allow to be home, watching through windows of churches mesmerized by angelic but human voices, Christmases that were entirely forbidden to him. Being alone.

            He shook his head and immediately regretted it as pain stabbed behind his eyes. Growling at himself he looked up and down the hallway until he spotted a window at the far end, behind where the stairwell had let out. Walking as softly as his weight allowed, Adam dropped his bag beneath the windowsill and forced the aged glass open. Mercifully it did so without a sound and he leaned slightly out to survey his surroundings.

            The helper’s building was on the far side of the city, one of the few tall buildings remaining out on this side of the factory town. A few streets east and he would be in the dead lands again, mile after mile of infertile fields stretching between this and the next city or village. Between the building and the glowing center of the town it there was nothing but flat-topped one-story buildings in various states of disrepair. In the gloomy light the automated patroller robots roamed the grid of streets, searching for humanity that should not be there. The city didn’t even have a real name anymore; that had gotten lost when the American war had blown across the world and caught Europe up in its mad struggle with China. He seemed to recall they had called it World War Three, which was a bit of a laugh. Europe had wanted nothing to do with their war, but it had affected them all the same. More people had died as a result of the upturned economy than what little actual fighting had been done. Now there were decimated cities like this all over the globe, populated by starving ghosts on the outskirts and by the super-rich in tight-packed armored citadels downtown.

Far in the distance, over the dead quiet ghost town rose the Nerium Tower from the dead-center of the rich’s citadel city. It emitted a weird, almost otherworldly blue light that reach far further than any man-made light should have. It was his next clue, that tower. The corporation’s logos had been on dozens of documents in the demon’s nest in London, and before that it had been appearing on more demons than he could remember in the years since the war. It may have been a negligible connection; Nerium Robotics had started as a weapons manufacturer until the war had changed their tune and there were few things the demons loved more than new weaponry. It was far too reminiscent of Wessex Industries, however and it made Adam uneasy. He didn’t have a good explanation for it, but the light from the Tower made him feel sicker as he looked at it and he turned away. The Tower wasn’t going anywhere, but he might if he didn’t get help and quickly.

A rusty fire escape stretched to his right from underneath the window he was looking through to a railed balcony covered in flowering plants and a small set of table and chairs that looked as though they had been constructed from plywood and two-by fours. More of that warm light tumbled out of a set of wide windows; the other wall of the apartment his supposed ‘helper’ lived in.

            Adam pulled his head back inside and looked back towards the door. It was certainly safer to knock on the door; the fire escape was old and the rain had not let up in his arduous journey up the stairs. He had no reason not to, he reasoned with himself. If the ‘helper’ had put the symbols up all over the city, surely she was used to odd guests. But the old voice in his head, the one that had always told him to hide asserted itself. For a few moments, the re-animated man was lost in a debate with himself, torn between his desire to trust and his desire to remain unseen.

            Finally he compromised; peek in through the larger windows, ascertain the risks and _then_ knock on the door. It still involved climbing onto the fire escape, but he was more satisfied with that risk than the risk of walking directly into some kind of trap.

            The demons had done it before.

            With all the grace his oversized form could muster Adam squirmed through the open window. The fire escape squeaked beneath his boots, but did not shudder or protest his weight otherwise. Slowly he crept to the balcony and swung himself over the rail, availing himself of the potted plants to hide behind.

            He blinked.

            The ‘windows’ were large sliding doors, so large in fact that he could see nearly everything in the apartment, which he realized was really more of a loft. Stairs led down from the balcony into the large central room. Doors across from where Adam lurked must have led to smaller rooms, but the domicile was immense, taking up one entire side of the seventh floor. The rooms he was looking at were open to each other; a kitchen and a living room with several couches and tables. Most impressive however, right against the windows stood an immense lab. Even with Adam’s limited exposure to technology through Terra he could tell the lab was state-of-the-art. He had no names for the machines that currently sat, sleeping, along the walls of the pristinely kept laboratory. Holographic screens blinked and ran data around a central desk where a lone figure sat perched on a stool, slim hands hovering above a projected keyboard.

            Adam quietly crept closer, peering at the ‘helper’. He didn’t stop until he was very nearly pressed against the glass, his eyes darting over the dark spaces in the flat, his brain assessing possible threats. He saw no signed of demonic work and he said a silent prayer of thanks; he could not have withstood a fight tonight. Content with his assessment, he focused on his supposed help, watching the lady at the desk intensely.

            She wasn’t moving. Adam glanced over at her holo-screens, trying to see through his every-wavering vision the data she was looking at. It must have been intensely confusing; it was arresting the woman’s gaze entirely. Minutes past and Adam’s legs began to cramp in their crouched position. He wanted her to turn so he could get a good look at her, to know who he was dealing with before he even made contact. He wanted to be ahead of the game.

            But still she did not move.

            His illness-dulled senses began to tingle. His instinct-voice suddenly began screaming at him. Something was wrong. Why was she so still?

“What is she doing?” He whispered aloud before he could stop himself. At his voice, the woman cocked her head ever so slightly towards him. With a jolt Adam realized she had heard him.

            ‘She already knows I’m here.’ He thought in a blind panic, totally off his guard. This was not what he had been expecting, not even close. He had envisioned some back-alley doctor with a table, not this pristine clinic and _not_ this super-aware mystery helper. Adam bolted to his feet, preparing to race over the fire escape and away. But his sickness, ignored and untreated for weeks, finally caught up with him and sent the world spinning uncontrollably around him. Desperately he tried to orient himself to no avail; he was utterly lost on the small balcony as the light from the windows danced behind him, swirling with the darkness in front of him. With growing terror he became acutely aware of the size of the balcony, the distance to the ground and the desperate fact that he was trapped. Never before afraid of heights, Adam suddenly had a terrible fever-vision of tumbling over the railing; falling down and down and meeting the ground with enough force to break him entirely. But would he die? Would it kill him? Could it? Or would he lie there, shattered and bleeding waiting for death, choking on his own blood? Bile rose into his throat and his panicked brain did the only logical thing it could and backed him towards the lighted windows, and their relative safety.

            Only the windows were no longer there. Gasping and flailing his arms Adam tumbled backwards into the sunken room beyond the glass. He landed with a nauseating jolt on the wide, shallow stairs and slide downward grabbing for a handhold and pulling a tray of instruments down with him in a terrific crash. With a groan he turned himself over coming up onto his hands and knees. His vision still swimming, he squeezed his eyes shut again, trying to clear it when he heard the unmistakable double-click of a gun being cocked above him.

            Slowly he opened his eyes and raised them to his assailant, panting.

            The ‘helper’ had risen from her stool and stood a few feet from him, the gun steadily trained on him. Adam took in only her stance and her hands on the pistol, both positioned in nearly-perfect firing stance. She had done this before. His nerves, pushed to their breaking points finally gave up and Adam retched, giving in to his fever as he vomited on the white tile beneath him.

            Crashing to one side Adam felt tears well in his eyes. He hadn’t felt the urge to cry in decades. Everything hurt though, damnit. He wanted to sleep. The tile beneath him was cool and he pressed his cheek to it; he hadn’t realized how hot he was. He groaned, and fervently wished the woman with the gun would just shoot and get it over with.

            _He_ certainly would have at this point.

            To his surprise he felt hands on his face and a voice floated to him, echoing and ghost-like through his fever.

            “-hell, he’s burning up. Cortana, fire up the scanners and the med-units. He needs help, _fast._ Sir? Hey, sir, can you hear me? Sir, what’s your name?”

            Lights flashed and Adam opened his eyes. Something was humming to life in the room now, mechanical whirrings and clickings bouncing off the walls. The whole lab seemed to have come alive. The only thing still was the dark shape hovering over him, haloed by the florescent lights above them.

            “-name, what’s your name, hon?” She was asking him again, pressing her fingers to his neck.

            ‘Taking my pulse.’ Adam thought dimly. Aloud he said haltingly “You’re not going to shoot me.” It wasn’t a question and the woman above him smiled; he could see her face changing but not what her smile looked like.

            “Not _yet_ anyway. You’re sick, and I have this thing about shooting sick people. Although generally they use the _door_.” She said, her sarcasm barely covering the tension Adam could hear in her voice. She wiped sweat from his brow, a strangely intimate gesture for him. He did not have the strength now to flinch away from the touch, but he stiffened as she repeated the gesture and peered closer, looking at his eyes. Her own swam into view, becoming startlingly clear.

“What’s your _name_?” She asked again, more insistent now. Adam swallowed as her eyes, a sharp steely grey examined him. Against her dark skin they stood out like unearthly beacons and in his fevered stated Adam shuddered. A clinical veil was drawn around her gaze; she was looking only at his symptoms, but the proximity of her weird eyes made him nervous.

“Adam” He barely made out. She nodded at him, either not noticing or ignoring his discomfort.

“Ok Adam, can you tell me what happened? When did this start?” She spoke crisply, withdrawing and pulling on a pair of latex gloves.

“Weeks.” Adam panted. He pointed a shaky finger at his right shoulder. “Knife wound. Not deep.”

The woman kneeled once more, grasping the edges of his coat.

“I have to take this off and examine you, is that ok Adam?” She asked. He wondered briefly if he said no what she would do. Leave him to die? Finally shoot him? But he was in no mood or condition to fight. He just nodded weakly at her and she went to work, pulling him gently into a sitting position before pushing his soaked coat from his shoulders followed by his hooded jacket.

Gentle as she was, the movement sent his vision rolling once more and he groaned, unwittingly leaning against her. She didn’t flinch away, just wrapped an arm around him as she worked, steadying him.

“Can you stand?” She asked, her voice right next to his ear. Calm, clinical, but urgent. Adam attempted to push himself onto his unsteady feet once before shaking his head. He felt hot tears roll down his face; how the hell had he gotten so weak?

Beside him he felt the woman tense, her breath hitching as she paused, he urgency dulled for the moment. Slowly she let go of him a pulled away, turning her back to him completely. Something mechanical chirped and whirred as black clouds began forming on the edges of Adam’s vision.

‘I could die. This could really be what kills me’ He thought. A black laugh forced its way out of his mouth, startling the woman. Cheerlessly he smiled at her.

“Am I going to die?” Adam asked, the maddening laugh still on his lips. Her grey eyes narrowed at him and he realized he had made her angry. It drew another laugh as she shook her head.

“Oh no you don’t” she whispered fiercely to him as she threw his arm over her shoulder. “Don’t you _dare_.”

            With more force than he would have ever believed she pushed the both of them off the floor. She was strong, abnormally so. Or was he just that weak right now, that ill? Adam turned away from her, suddenly afraid he would be sick again as they moved further into the clinic. From some secret compartment in the floor, a surgical table rose. A primal, childlike fear stabbed through Adam at the sight of it; Frankenstein. He moaned, too weak and ill to do anything other than fall onto the table as the woman laid him on it, swinging his legs up as he collapsed. She tapped a flickering holo-screen beside him and maneuvered it over his face.

            “Cort, run a full body scan. Give me body temp and heart rate. Queue up a dose of methohexital for his body weight-“

            “Dose of…what?” Adam asked, suddenly pulling himself upright through the hologram. “No, I don’t want…” The room spun and he lapsed into silence, hissing through gritted teeth. The doctor placed her hands on his shoulders and slowly pushed him back to the table.

            “It’s an anesthetic, Adam, it will make you sleep. It looks like you’ve got a serious infection. I’ll need to re-open the wound and clean it, possibly drain it if it’s really bad. It will hurt quite a bit; you might want to be asleep while I treat you.” She said. Her calm was beginning to irritate him and he shook his head.

            “No, no, I don’t want to be asleep.” He growled. It was a desperate insistence, but he knew if she chose to ignore him he couldn’t fight her. He had let the illness get the better of him and he now was completely at the mercy of this woman, this ‘helper’. To his shame several more tears escaped and he turned away from her, hiding them as best he could. He was so damned _tired_.

            “Ok. Ok, Adam, no anesthesia.” She replied quietly. Adam turned back to her in surprise as his fevered brain processed what she had said, his eyes full of questions. She smiled at him and shrugged. “I’ll only do what you give me permission to do. I have a thing about that, too.” Some of the clinical professionalism had left her voice and he felt as though he was seeing part of her for the first time. Overwhelmed, he felt suddenly exhausted and his eyes began to flutter closed. He felt her hands grasp his face, her thumbs pulling gently on his eyes to keep them open. She peered at his face earnestly, concern banishing the doctor from her voice.

            “Adam, do I have your permission to treat you? No anesthesia, no crazy procedures, just a clean and stabilize until you can decide if you want me to do more?” She asked. Adam stared at her, slowly working through the autonomy she was giving him. He could die here if he chose, she was giving him that choice. A fire rose in him, the same that had consumed him in the war alongside the gargoyles centuries before, the same that had burned at his creation; he wanted to live.

           “Please.” He whispered. “Help me.”

            She nodded once, then let him go, disappearing from his field of vision as he lay back, putting his full desperate trust in her.

            “I do not want to die.” He whispered to the white light around him.

            “Then lets get to work.” Her voice floated back to him. “I won’t let you.”

            His eyelids were growing heavier as he listen to her moving about the lab, tapping his arm and inserting an IV that felt like icy steel in his fevered skin. He bit his tongue to keep from crying out again.

            “Who are you?” He finally choked out, his voice hoarse. Her soft laugh seemed to come from all around him as she shadows began to cloud over his vision.

            “Anna, sweetheart. My name is Anna.”

Very quickly Adam realized Anna had been right; he should have let her knock him out.

The pain was excruciating and it was only a fierce, foolish pride that kept Adam from begging her to numb the infection sight after she began working. With a pair of safety scissors she cut his shirt, splitting it down the middle and hissing through her teeth. Incredibly, after four hundred years Adam’s fever-addled mind still convinced him it was his scars, his malformed skin that was repulsing her and he drew his arms up to cover himself. The doctor batted them away, irritated.

“Stop doing that, I need to look at that cut. Did you sew this yourself?”

He followed her gaze to where the flesh had swollen, red lines etching their way across his pectoral muscle and over his shoulder. Oh, that’s what she had seen. True to her word, she began by re-opening the wound. After gently feeling around the mound of skin on his shoulder she pursed her lips and retrieved a scalpel from one of the immaculately arranged trays along the wall. She gave Adam on last questioning look, which he responded to by closing his eyes and gritting his teeth. He felt the cold metal of the scalpel raise goosebumps along his chest and braced himself for the cut.

It felt like fire, ten times worse than the original cut had been, and Anna was making this one bigger. The doctor whistled low and Adam’s eye flew open. Thick, greenish fluid burst from under his skin almost as soon as she passed the scalpel over it. Adam watched it run down his chest and pool at his side with an almost detached interest.

“I’ve never bled green before.” He muttered as Anna grimaced, wrinkling her nose.

“That’s not blood, honey. It’s pus.” She replied. Carefully she positioned her hands around the re-opened wound, her eyes flicking briefly up to his face before pressing down slowly on his chest.

Adam screamed; it felt like he was being crushed. Immediately Anna took the pressure off and backed away with her hands raised face-level. Adam gasped for breath, his body shaking as fever-fueled adrenaline pulsed through his body.

“I’m sorry- I…” He began but trailed off into mumbling as his eyes rolled back into his head.

A few seconds, or maybe a few years later he opened his eyes again. Anna was snapping her fingers in his ear and calling his name.

“-dam, are you back?” She asked, her voice coming from a thousand miles away. Adam nodded slowly at her and blinked. He was going to go out again, he was certain of it. Anna was saying something to him.

“-can’t let you thrash….hurt yourself… going to strap you down to treat you, ok?” Her voice was worried. She was concerned about him. It had been a long, long time since anyone had been concerned about him.

She was talking in his ear now, insistently, so close he could feel her breath. He moved his head away, uncomfortable and annoyed. Whatever she wanted was fine, just let him sleep! He nodded and opened his mouth to tell her as much, but nothing came out except a mishmash of slurred syllables. He lolled his head in the best affirmative nod he could and settled back on the table, succumbing once again to the cool dark of unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

Light, light, flashes of light, thunder and red lightning flashing across his vison. Pain, so much pain everywhere, every part of him on fire. The air was hard to breathe, he was choking on it. Fever sweat. Everything was bright, too bright. Somebody was screaming. Was it him? No, no it was Frankenstein’s wife, the bastard’s wife, she was here, she was back, hovering over him with her long hair, staring at him with wide grey eyes like she cared if he lived or died. She was calling his name, over and over again. How dare Frankenstein send her back to torment him? How many times had he laid that ghost to rest and now she was here? How dare his father, how dare he-NO!

The ghost reached towards him and he tried to back away but he couldn’t. He was tied down, his arms and legs held fast by straps… The room shifted and went dark, the straps on his legs were now chains. The room was fire-lit and dank. With growing horror he realized was back in Frankenstein’s lab, strapped once more to that table of tortures, weak from his birthing. Victor Frankenstein stood with his wife and handled her a scalpel. Adam strained against the chains, writhing and thrashing like a wild beast, like the thing he had once been but it was no use. He could not escape. Elizabeth Frankenstein walked calmly up to him and began to cut away his sutures and Adam thought he was going to be sick as he watched her. Sutures that had long since healed were fresh again. Fresh and on fire! Slowly she cut and cut until his right leg fell away from him beneath his knee. Then she moved to his left foot, hacking with maddening slowness.

“Frankenstein!” Adam screamed, “Father, please, no!”

The doctor turned away, deaf to Adams screams, to his pain, as he had always been and picked up a second scalpel. Adam’s heart beat wildly.

“God, please no,” Adam moaned as Frankenstein pressed the scalpel to his temple.

“God has no place for you, Adam.”

Leonore?

The gargoyle queen watched with chilled approval as the Frankensteins hacked him to pieces, her eyes merciless.

“There is no place for monsters but Hell.” She said in a voice of iron.

A sob tore from Adams throat.

“Help me” He begged, gasping. The room was swimming, the firelight flickering wildly as the scalpels went about their quiet work taking his living flesh apart.

“Adam!” The voice was far away, so far. They couldn’t possibly get to him in time. Half of him was already gone…

“Help me… please...”

“Adam, WAKE UP!”

 

 

Through the impassive face of Victor Frankenstein another burst, dissipating the phantom like smoke. Adam reeled back from the vision as he tried to make sense of where he was. Too quickly hands clasped his shoulders, a voice assaulted him too near his ear.

“Adam it was a dream, you’re awake, it wasn’t-”

Adam threw himself backwards, pushing away the hands, hiding his face. He was tangled in something; it was wrapped around his legs, preventing him from standing, from running.

“No, no! Leave me alone!” He begged, still lost in himself, his eyes closed tight against his fear.

“Adam,” the voice repeated, familiar and yet so alien. Hands clasped either side of his face and Adam screamed, throwing himself forward.

“I am NOT A MONSTER!” He shouted into the face of his assailant, and then froze, his eyes wide.

Anna looked back him with determination and not a little fear dancing in her eyes. Light from the curtained window played softly across her face and as he watched she grit her teeth and dropped one of her hands from his face to the hand that was currently clasped around her neck. With a sickening feeling Adam realized slowly that it was his own.

He let go immediately, his breath coming back to him slowly, shakily. Anna put a small amount of distance between them but remained as she was, perched on the side of the bed he was laying in. His stomach began to turn, and try as he might Adam knew he couldn’t stop it.

“M’be sick,” He mumbled and tried to push past her. She resisted and simply handed him a trash pail which he grabbed, promptly vomiting. Anna did not leave him, did not flinch away as he heaved. She kept a steadying if hesitant hand on his back, retrieving the bucket from him when his retching subsided.

“I-” He began but she shushed him.

“Don’t talk. Lie down again. You’re still very sick and you need to rest.” She was pushing him back towards the pillow again with little effect. Strange, he had thought she was stronger before. He did not resist her though, allowing himself to be guided back into a prone position.

His breath was still coming in shallow gasps and it took all of his willpower to keep his hands from shaking as the adrenaline drained from his system. For lack of something better to distract him, he fixed his concentration on getting a better look at his benefactor.

Anna busied herself with peeling back the gauze and tape bandage that covered the wound she had reopened. She was young, somewhere in her late twenties Adam decided, she seemed too confident to be much younger. Her dark face was framed by reddish hair that hung in wisps around her forehead, escaped locks from the loose bun she had gathered the rest into. The color went to her scalp, but it looked to Adam’s eyes almost as unnatural as the grey irises that were currently fixed on him with such intensity. As he watched, her eyes narrowed in concentration and concern as she worried over his injury. She began gently probing the surrounding flesh with her hands, wholly absorbed in what she was doing. Her fingers were small and adroit as she carefully examined her work and Adam grew very still under her touch. This close to her, Adam saw for the first time a thin scar winding its way acround the edge of her chin, an angry pinkish-white against her deep brown complexion. Incredibly, he felt his fingers twitch wanting to touch it, to feel the transition from the plasticky weal of the scar to the rest of her flesh.

“How long was I out?” He asked, his throat suddenly dry.

“I said hush!” Anna chastised distractedly, rapping him gently on the top of his head without looking up. The gesture was familiar, almost fraternal and Adam didn’t know quite how to respond to it but to look at her in confusion. Seeing his discomfort a nervous smile broke over Anna’s face and she quickly guided a cup of water to Adam’s mouth, once again hesitating before moving her other hand to support his head. Forgetting everything else Adam drank gratefully as she talked over him.

“You’ve been out for three days. I say _out_ , not _asleep_ , because it hasn’t exactly been restful. You’ve been having some bad fever dreams. It took a couple of hours to clean the infection site; it had spread quite a bit and I wanted to be thorough. You were in and out for the procedure, never quite coconscious but you were there enough to feel it. You’ll be quite sore for several days I’m afraid. I’m…sorry about the bruises, by the way.” She said cautiously, not meeting his eyes. He looked up from the water, confused. Gently she grasped his forearm and raised it in front of his eyes.  Still exhausted from his fever-dream, Adam did not flinch from the contact, but allowed her to show him the mottled bruises that stretched from his wrist to just below his elbow.

“You were in a lot of pain and you kept thrashing every time I touched you, so I had to strap you down.” Anna looked genuinely distressed. Adam simply pressed his lips together.

“That explains the dream…” He muttered, passing his hand over his eyes. When he looked up at her again she was biting her lip nervously. “I didn’t… hurt you, did I?” he asked reluctantly, a sinking feeling growing in his heart. He was almost certain he had; if the waking from his dream was any indication of his mindset while she was treating him, he had at least struggled against her in his sleep. At most he may have struck her. Perhaps that’s why she was so jumpy. He couldn’t blame her; it would just mean he’d be leaving quickly. She wouldn’t want him around and with everything she’d obviously done for him he would rather not make her uncomfortable.

To his surprise she shrugged nonchalantly.  

“Nothing that hasn’t been done before.” Anna replied dismissively. At his incredulous look she grasped her right shoulder and looked away from him sheepishly. “Despite appearances I can take a decent hit. Not my favorite thing to do, but there it is.” Shaking herself as if sloughing off the conversation she quickly went on. “Eventually the thrashing got too disruptive and I couldn’t properly treat you while you were…loose. I… are you upset that I strapped you down?” She asked, looking at him with some effort.

The memory of her asking him for permission to treat him floated to the surface. So _that_ was why she was upset. Relief that he did not show spread through his chest.

“Your ‘thing’?” Adam asked, betraying the tiniest amount of amusement. Anna nodded and he gave a dry, short laugh. Of all the things that had ever been done to him this was probably the most innocuous. She had most likely saved his stupid life by acting quickly. That she had to restrain him like an animal was not her fault.

“No, I am not angry. I…”He struggled with the words he knew he should say. “You did what you had to do and in all likelihood you’ve saved me. I don’t often have to thank…people.” He mentally berated himself; he had almost slipped and said ‘humans’. The less she knew about the very thin line he walked the better. “So…thank you.” He finished awkwardly, suddenly not wanted to meet her eyes.

Anna shakily released the breath she had been holding and some of the tension in the room faded.

“Don’t thank me quite yet,” Anna cautioned. “You’re not cured or anything. I told you I could stabilize you, but you need recovery time before I can mark you in the clear. Eventually I need to do a full exam.”

“Why?” Adam immediately asked. Anna fixed him with a look and instantly Adam knew she would fight him on this, afraid of him or not.

“I need to see if the infection took root anywhere else. If it did and you leave here, you may not get back in time to be saved.” She rose from the bed and walked to the window, giving Adam his first good look at her as she drew back the curtains and let a small shaft of light fall into the room.

Anna was a small woman; she would have barely reached his chest if he stood. She was wearing a jacket that covered her hands down to her knuckles with her thumbs protruding through holes in the sleeve. The garment was loose and made her look incredibly tiny underneath it. Small enough, that if Adam had been at top fighting strength he would have snapped her neck upon waking from his nightmare. The thought made his heart quail. No matter how far behind him he thought he put the monster it still lurked within him. On top of the sheet he slowly balled his fists and stared at them, irrationally angry for the first time in a long time for what he was.

His doctor turned to face him and Adam met her eyes with what must have been a truly threatening scowl. It wasn’t meant for her, but she must have thought he was preparing to argue because she crossed her arms and fixed him with an equally challenging look.

“I mean… I won’t hold you here, Adam, if you really want to go. But you need more treatment and I doubt there anybody else in this city that will-”

“There isn’t.” Adam agreed shortly. His head was beginning to ache, making him irritable, but he had to admit she was right. He had scoured the city when he had first begun to realize how serious his ailment had become, and aside from a few who could be categorized as little more than butchers armed with anesthetic and scalpels she was the only one who had actually been of some help. He was lucky if not outright touched by God to have collapsed at her door, not one of theirs in his investigations.

Anna seemed to realize his discomfort and all aggression dropped from her stance at once.

“Look, I’d let you sleep, but you haven’t eaten anything since you got here. You need to eat to recover.”

Adam grimaced and glanced at the bucket of his sick resting on the floor. Anna shook her head.

“You have to try to eat. It _will_ help.” She insisted. Adam shrugged in response, not in the mood to fight her.

“My bag, I left it in the hallway. There are dried food packs and supplements…” He began but stopped when Anna wrinkled her nose.

“No way, friend. Not in my house, there aren’t.” From the floor she retrieved a pillow and handed it to him, motioning to put it behind his head so that he was partially upright. Picking up the sloshing pail with a grimace she moved towards the door.

“Try to drink a little more water, I’ll be back. With _real_ food.” She called over her shoulder as she made her way, sliding the door open and letting warm light spill into the room. When she was gone Adam looked after her for a moment before obeying and shifting to a sitting position on the bed and took careful sips from the cup she had left him. His hands shook as he held it and after a few sips he put it down again in defeat after not nearly enough. She hadn’t been joking; he needed more time to recover.

Judging by the light coming from the room Anna had just entered Adam surmised that he was still in the flat, in one of the rooms beyond the living room he had seen from the balcony. The sliding partition wall Anna had walked through was lined with like wood arranged in a grid. The rest of the room was nothing special; a rough wood floor and a few heavily-curtained windows but little else. Next to the bed several pillows were stacked along with a pile of books haphazardly jumbled across the floor. A few dirty dishes were resting next to the nearest wall. Adam suddenly felt odd; was he in her bed? Had she been sleeping on the floor next to him while he was caught up in his fever-induced nightmares? Treating his injuries was one thing, watching over him while he slept…

After all this time humans kept surprising him. The most he had expected from the mysterious helper was a quick diagnosis and maybe, _maybe_ medicine to send him on his way. Of course, he hadn’t really understood how sick he was until he collapsed through Anna’s window. That fact alone made it a miracle he was still alive. He had never known any humans, especially not since the war, who would have fought so hard to rescue someone. Most would have robbed him and kicked his body into the nearest ditch, whether or not he was actually dead at the time. The world had gone backwards that way.

All except for his savior Anna, apparently. She reminded him of Terra. Certainly in how she spoke to him, and in how she unsettled him simply by doing what needed to get done, his insecurities and misgivings be damned. After the experience at Wessex had loosened her perceptions of him a little Terra had always been direct when it came to telling him what needed to happen. He was getting the distinct sense that Anna was going to be the same way. Adam wondered briefly if their similarities meant he had a ‘type’ and chuckled at himself. That was a very human thought.

Adam looked down, noticing for the first time that he had a new, clean shirt. He glanced quickly at the door before moving the sheets off his legs and breathed a sigh of relief. Anna had not changed the rest of his clothes. He hadn’t really expected her to, her determination to do only what he gave her permission to do seemed to guide most of her actions, but all the same he was relieved. He had gotten over much of his self-loathing in his time spent with Terra; she had been remarkably intolerant of it and chided him every time he spoke of himself as a ‘thing’ or ‘monster’. But Terra was long gone and it had been years since he had experienced such close human contact. He was unused to it. Even in his time with Terra he had been unpracticed in how to accept it.

He pulled the collar of the shirt aside and examined the now-closed wound. The swelling had decreased significantly and there was no trace of the red fever-lines that had crisscrossed his skin a few days ago. Gingerly Adam peeled the bandage back from the cut, wincing slightly as the tape pulled at his flesh. The sutures beneath were neat and tight, and after a moment’s examination he recognized their material as metal, not thread. ‘Singers’ he believed was the term for them: self-suturing devices that were entirely sterile and incredibly hard to break. They had once been common, now they were relegated to the citadel cities and the rich. Or to the cunning. Which was Anna?

Looking at the scars underneath the new stiches Adam quietly wondered what she had thought when she had seen them. She would have, of course, seen them for what they were; surgical. Had they frightened her, made her curious? Disgusted her? He let himself wonder as he carefully ran his fingers over what would become another scar she had added to his collection.

The door slid open and he let his shirt fall back over the injury as Anna re-entered. She had several rags clenched between her teeth as she juggled a large steaming mug and a plate stacked with several thick pieces of bread and attempted the close the door at the same time. Adam felt the corners of his mouth twist upward and quickly wrangled them into his customary scowl before she could see.

Pushing the rags out of her mouth with her tongue onto the bed, Anna smiled at him. Her nervousness seemed to have dissipated and she sat on the edge of the bed again, closer to him this time, settling the plate on the small side table beside the bed. She dipped her little finger into the mug’s contents to test its warmth and blew across the top, unwittingly sending the smell of broth wafting across the bed to Adam.

His stomach roared to life and Adam drew a hand across himself, trying to quiet it. Anna gave a wry smile but did not comment except to hand him a piece of bread.

“Try and get something dry down first. It’ll soak up whatever’s in your stomach now.”

Adam hesitated only a moment as his stomach growled again before unclenching his hand from the bandage and taking the bread. Anna glanced at the bloody gauze.

“What do you think?” she asked, indicating his shoulder as Adam inhaled the smell of the bread. He met her eyes for a brief moment.

“It’s…well stitched.” He replied stiffly. Anna blinked at him, then snorted and hid a smile behind her hand.

“I guess that’s something.” She said, her voice dancing with quiet amusement.  Adam felt his cheeks color; he hated not knowing how to speak to people. He took a bite of the bread to give himself something to do and chewed with slow relish. God, when was the last time he had eaten something other than freeze-dried fruit and re-constituted meat and rice? Decades, since before the world went to war around his own war. He attempted to swallow and realized his mouth was completely dry. He coughed, choking the piece in his mouth down.

“You’re still dehydrated.” Anna said, pulling the remaining piece of bread from his hand. “I was afraid of that. Here, try the broth. It should be cool enough to drink.”

She offered him the cup. Adam stared at it, almost afraid. Silence fell between them until finally he lifted his shaking hands to grasp the mug. Anna watched him with knitted brows, not letting him take the full weight of the cup as she watched.

“I…can’t.” Adam finally admitted, letting his hands drop. His head was pounding and his stomach would not shut up, and he could not feed himself. It was worse than waking up in the river after Frankenstein had dumped his body. Again tears stung his eyes and he looked away from the doctor.

“Hey,” He turned sharply back to Anna. She wasn’t smiling now, not like before. He saw concern, but not pity in her eyes. Terra had looked at him with pity, always. Even after years of knowing him, she pitied him. In Anna he saw none of that, only a desire to help, to fix. To heal. Very slowly she laid a hand on his and his breath hitched in his throat. She did smile then, very small and gently.

“It’s alright, Adam. You’re sick, it happens to the best of us. Here,” She took one of the rags she had brought in and laid in flat over his chest, then dipped the bread in the broth, waiting a few seconds before holding the soaked piece to his mouth. He shook his head, embarrassed.

“You don’t have to.” He offered, desperately attempting to resurrect the walls again. This was too much to bear, the closeness, the simple generosity. There weren’t people like that in the world anymore. Anna gave him an exasperated look as he struggled with himself.

“I said I’d help you. This is me helping you.” She said, her voice laced with annoyance. Then, softer. “I don’t mind, Adam. Please eat. I know its not terribly dignified, but you kind of need to get over that. Just… don’t think about it.”

After a brief internal fight where his stomach won out over his sense of pride, he cautiously forced his mouth open and accepted what she offered, biting off only what was soggy with broth. He tried to hang on to his thoughts, his walls, but relented after only a moment. It tasted so good, it had been years since he had tasted something so good. He closed his eyes and swallowed, the sodden bread sliding easily down his throat. When he opened his eyes she was offering him more, a carefully neutral smile on her face. It didn’t suit her, that professional detached demeanor, but it unnerved him less than her concern.

He was afraid of her. Damnit, why was he afraid of her? She had done everything she said she would, and more besides. Hell, even in the 1800’s people had offered him bread, even if only to get him to leave. What did he have to fear from this? And why, why in God’s name wasn’t she afraid of _him_?

For whatever reason, Anna wasn’t afraid. Through the detached professionalism Adam saw her desire to help as raw as Terra’s had been the night Zuriel had attacked him. It was hard to fight that kind of human compassion he had learned once it took root. With a resigned sigh he nodded and opened his mouth again to accept the food, trying his best to ignore his beaten pride.

They continued in silence that until the bread was gone, each subtly watching the other with equal curiosity. But Anna asked no questions and he did not offer information. Both seemed content to let their curiosities lie for now, and Adam was grateful. He didn’t think he could stand the questions, the ones that always led up to the same thing; what are you?

Anna did not seem to feel the need to pry, even when he had finished eating she simply stacked the dishes and asked him if he wanted anything else. Adam shook his head.

“You should get more sleep. Best way to get you well enough to do and exam.” She slid from the bed to the stack of pillows on the floor. “And get you on your way if that’s what you want.” She said almost reluctantly in a much smaller voice, so small Adam thought he must have imagined her tone. He cocked his head to one side, the ache much less now that he had something in his stomach. In the warmth and comfort of the bed she had offered him (how long had it been since he had slept in a _bed_?) he was feeling very much like staying put. At least for now, while he had the excuse of recovering, he would remain. And he was self-aware enough to know he was curious about his benefactor. 

“Have you been… sleeping on the floor this whole time?” Adam asked falteringly, again uncomfortable at the thought of usurping her space.

“ _Sleeping_ is the wrong word for it. I’ve dozed off for a few hours, maybe, but not much more than that. My room is the next one over and I have a perfectly serviceable bed, I assure you. Like I said though, you’ve been having some pretty intense nightmares since I sewed you up. You tore your stiches not three hours after I laid you down so I figured I’d be here to wake you up if it looked like you were on the brink of doing it again.” Anna explained nonchalantly, meeting Adam’s mortified stare with a flimsy smile.  “It’s _fine_ ,” she insisted and then fixed him with an inquisitive look. “Did you expect me to just stitch you back together and then kick you out?”

“…Yes.” Adam replied bashfully. “I…” He hesitated, not wanting to tell the truth; it’s what he would have done. Anna rubbed the heels of her hands into her eyes.

“Look, I’d be more than happy to let you explain why you think I ought to throw out on the street. Really I would, I confess myself quite curious about it as a matter of fact. But for now, let’s just say that I would be going back on a whole lot of promises I made a long time ago if I kicked you out before I thought you were completely healed and out of danger.” She looked up at him from the floor, her unguarded gaze rooting him to the spot. “Whatever _was_ or _used to be_ before you fell into my flat, it doesn’t matter. What you are _now_ is my patient. And trust me, Adam, there are very few sins you could have committed that would incite me to change that.”

Adam opened his mouth but found he had no words to reply. There was something very heavy, almost pained in the way Anna was looking at him and it took him by surprise; she had secrets, his benefactor. For the first time in ages a surge of curiosity engulfed him. He wanted to know what she was hiding.  

“Who…who did you promise?” he asked, bewildered. Anna looked away from him and settled on the pillows, leaning her head back against the bed.

“Myself.” She said quietly. He hand strayed to her right shoulder again, kneading and worrying it beneath her palm. “For reasons that are my own and that I don’t think you could stay awake to hear. Go to sleep, Adam.”

The conversation effectively closed, Adam lay himself down amidst the confusion of pillows, Anna all but disappearing from his view as he did.

“You’ll… be here in case I…” He said after a moment, letting the question hang unasked. In the darkness he swore he could hear the smile spread across her face.

“I’ll be here.”


	3. Chapter 3

The nightmares did not return that night. Whether it was from his exhausted body working overtime to consume the food he had finally given it or the comfort of knowing that he was not alone Adam did not examine to closely. But Anna was there when he awoke, and he found himself uncharacteristically grateful. Mercifully he was recovered enough that she did not have to hand feed him again when she brought him a bowl of spiced oatmeal that he consumed with relish as she drew back the curtain and opened the windows of his small room.

“I have a smog filter screen on all of them, so feel free to open as many as you want.” she commented as he ate. “The factory doesn’t produce as much pollution as it used to, but it’s still a little iffy on whether the air is actually safe to breathe in large quantities outside of the citadels. Plus, the fresh air will do you some good.” She smiled at him before picking up the scattered pillows from the floor and stacking them on the end of his bed.

“This place is…remarkably immaculate for this part of the city.” Adam commented clumsily around a mouthful as he watched her, ever on guard. Having regained his senses, he was conspicuously aware of how vulnerable he was at the present moment. It made him leery, even as Anna’s carefree attitude sought to convince him otherwise.

“Vielen Danke,” Anna replied with a laugh, moving on to the dishes she had left on the floor. “I try.”

“Bitte,” Adam returned, a small half-smile creeping onto his face. Anna’s head shot up from where she was bent to her task to fix him with a pleased but surprised look. Adam quickly spooned more oatmeal into his mouth to avoid meeting her eyes. Anna made a quiet ‘hmm-ing’ sound and continued.

“I did try the center of town once, a long time ago. Citadel City was a little too intense for me. Too many rules, too many people who ignore what’s important. And too closed off to people who need help if they don’t have the cash to make things happen. Out here money doesn’t talk as much because there is none. People tend to give a few more fucks about each other on the outskirts because they need each other to survive. I couldn’t do any good in the citadel, so here I am.” She caught his eye and winked. “Lucky for _you_.”

Adam swallowed what was in his mouth more quickly than he should have and coughed as it lodged in his throat. To her credit Anna ignored him and moved into the next room with her pile of dirty dishes, giving him enough time to recover he breath as his head began to swim again. As if he needed to be reminded that he was still sick.

She was far too comfortable with him. She should be afraid of him, or at least put on her guard. Not feeding him and cleaning his room. Not _joking_ with him as if they were…friends. He’d nearly strangled her last night by accident!

‘What is _wrong_ with her?’ Adam thought and then felt a very light mental slap. Unbidden, the ever-logical voice of Terra Wade rose in his mind.

‘You’ve been lying in her spare room for _three days_ , Adam. She’s had time to get used to the look of you, that’s all. What’s more, she’s a doctor, you’re her patient. Remember the first time I sewed you up? I was scared out of my wits of you, and I still managed to stich a straight line. It goes with the profession. I know it’s not the way you typically operate, but do get over yourself. She isn’t afraid of you and I know that has always been hard for you to grasp. Accept it though and it may turn out better than us.’

Inwardly Adam smiled. His conscience had taken the form of Terra even before she’d passed, especially in moments when he could be more human and was resisting. Terra had been adamant about that. She had so desperately wanted him to be human… That thought sobered him, but he carefully folded it up and put it away in the back of his mind. He was still not ready to examine that ghost yet. Despite his misgivings, he knew his Terra-sense was in all likelihood right. After only a few days Terra herself had been almost as comfortable around him, notwithstanding his habit of appearing at the window of her flat at odd hours, and they had been running after demons together. Anna had merely seen a distressed, scarred man have a physical breakdown in her lab. It obviously wasn’t enough to terrify her. He should give her more credit.

The object of his thoughts re-entered the room, a bundle of cloth under one arm that she tossed on top of the pillows at the end of his bed before gathering the wayward books that had been stacked around the place she had claimed on the floor. Adam watched her for a moment, uncertain.

“You’re German by birth?” He finally ventured, disliking the silence in the room.

“American, actually.” She said, her back to him.

“You’re _joking_ ,” He exclaimed in surprise. She turned to look at him with an apologetic expression.

“Born and Raised, for the most part. We left when I was about twelve. It was getting… well…uncomfortable…” She trailed off, and Adam didn’t fail to note her hand strayed to her right arm again. He said nothing but merely raised his eyebrows. Anna sighed and shrugged.

“My father was big into robotics, so....” She said by way of explanation.

“Ah.” Adam nodded. He didn’t need anything more than that. The Americans justification for the launch of their campaigns was the increase of biomechanics the Chinese had begun using in medical capacities. The Americans’ superstition had gotten the better of them and fear mongering turned simple life-saving devices into mechanical super-soldiers hell-bent on destroying their way of life. He had heard stories of Japanese-American citizens interred during World War Two; he was not surprised that decades after the dust of the war had settled the Americans still stigmatized robotics and those who studied it.

An uncomfortable silence had descended between them, neither really willing to continue the conversation. The war had left scars that couldn’t be seen.

“You done with that?” Anna asked, indicating his bowl. He nodded and offered it. When she took it, he threw aside the blankets and settled his feet on the smooth boards next to the bed.  

“Where do you think you’re going?” Anna inquire, her voice crisp. 

Adam paused halfway out of the bed, momentarily a deer in the headlights.  He ran a hand through his hair suddenly self-conscious.

“I was hoping I could wash…” He said rising unsteadily as he did so. Anna immediately stepped forward to help him and without meaning to he flinched back from her. He regretted it instantly; the openness that Anna had adopted was immediately shuttered, her eyes veiled and clinical once again.

“You _do_ need it.” She agreed. Adam’s insecurity reared its head and twisted his stomach in knots; he didn’t often have a chance to clean himself as often as human protocol said he should, but was it that obvious? Did he smell?

“-was worried I wouldn’t be able to properly disinfect your injury when you first arrived, but it ended up being alright.” Anna was saying as he shook himself free of his childish doubts. She handed him the bundle she had carried in. “Here’s a towel, and I think what I have _should_ fit you, although it might be a little snug.” She glanced over his jeans with a critical eye. “Your pants are filthy. I can toss them in with your hoodie and anything else you have in your bag that needs washing.” She turned brusquely and began walking out of the room. “Come on, follow me.” She encouraged when he didn’t move right away.

Adam felt a sinking feeling in his chest. He had actually been enjoying her demeanor. The clinician was far less enjoyable. He hung his head and trudged after her.

‘Nobody to blame for that but myself.’ He had never been good with people. Terra had been an unmitigated disaster, if he was honest with himself. It was due more to her resilience than his… ‘charms’ that the two of them had managed to stay friends.

Anna led Adam out into the main room and down a hallway he hadn’t noticed in his reconnaissance, irritating him by looking over her shoulder to see how he was faring as they walked and adjusting her pace to allow him to keep up at the slow shamble he had adopted to counter-act the ache in his head. He did not enjoy feeling this weak, nor was his attitude as charitable as it might have been if the situation where reversed and _he_ had to slow himself so _she_ could catch up to him at full strength.

He was surprised at how late it was; the sun was peeking around the taller buildings in citadel city into the picture windows of Anna flat as they made their way. His internal clock was completely off. It had felt like 5am.  

The hallway ended at a door that led to a staircase similar to the one Adam had climbed to get to Anna’s flat. Anna held the door for him and then took the lead once more, descending one turn of the stairs and then waiting for him, again holding the door ajar. As if in deference to what had occurred earlier, she did not move to assist him. He scowled at her as she waited for him to limp down the stairs. To prove he wasn’t completely helpless, he braced a hand against the door when he finally reached it.

“After you.” He said, with a touch of sarcasm. Anna gave him a cool look and sauntered down to hallway in front of him, tapping the walls as they passed which chirped mechanically and flashed quickly green. Lights flickered on overhead, startling Adam.

“The whole building is live?” He asked, incredulous. Over her shoulder she nodded as she walked.

“Solar shielding on the east wall gets me most of what I need. It’s still hooked up to the city power grid but it draws attention if a dead building suddenly lights up on the system’s charts so I tend not to use it except in very dire emergencies. Winter storms and such, you know? A lot of people do it then though, so the powers that be look the other way. Occasionally I get blackouts, especially during dust storm season, but for all intents and purposes we’re live from the first floor to the roof.”

“So…I could have taken the elevator on the first floor instead of climbing the stairs with a hundred and four degree fever? Naturally.” Adam bemoaned. Anna snorted and threw him a look over her shoulder.

“It was one hundred and two actually. Not as bad.”

“Could have fooled me.” He replied with chagrin. She laughed, cutting it short as though attempting to remain detached. The thought that it didn’t suit her rose again into Adam’s mind and he shook it off.

“Ok, here we are.” Anna finally said, opening one final door and leading him in.

They were standing in the remained of a very old community bathroom. Several stalls lined one wall opposed by a bank of sinks and further in the space sank slightly into a many-spigoted shower area. Some of the tiles that lined the floor were missing and the plastic curtains that hung from rings attached to the ceiling to spate one shower pace from the next were torn, but the space was remarkably clean and well-kept. Adam was less surprised by that than he was by the presence of the thing at all.

“What did this building used to be?” Adam asked wonderingly. Anna shrugged.

“A school of some sort I think, maybe a college. Every floor has two of these washrooms, except for my flat and the first floor, and dorm-like rooms in spades. It was pretty much cleaned out as far as furniture when I found it but everything still works.” As if to prove the point she twisted one of the shower knobs, which sprang to life in a hiss of water.

“If you give it a minute it’ll get warm. Not hot, but what’re you gonna do?” She rummaged in her pocket and drew out a few small bottles; shampoo and soap. Adam took them and looked at her curiously.

“You ‘found’ the building?” He knew he was prodding, but it seemed a harmless enough inquiry.

“I needed a place to work.” Was all Anna said by way of explanation. Adam simply stared at her until she went on with a sigh. “If you want to know what I do here then get done and come back upstairs. You’ll probably get to see me work today, assuming you don’t abscond down the stairs after you wash. I’m holding your bag and your weapons hostage though so I wouldn’t recommend it.” She said dryly. He raised his eyebrows at her mention of his weapons. She matched his expression infuriatingly.

“Your eskrimas?” She prompted. “They were in your coat and before you ask they’re perfectly safe. I have a healthy respect for other people’s weaponry, I haven’t touched them but to move them out of the lab.” She hooked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and tilted her head at him. “Do you need me to stay while you shower or will you be alright?”

Adam clutched the towel and clothes she had given him to his chest, blanching a little.

“No.” he said definitively and back away from her a step. “I’ll be fine.”

Anna bit her lip to hide a smile and turned away, looking for a moment as though she wanted to rib him but letting her professionalism take hold before she could. Adam found himself the tiniest bit disappointed; Ophir and Kaziah had goaded him constantly on the occasions when he had run with the Order in his hunting. Their camaraderie had irked him at first. But only at first.

“Well get to it then.” Anna said, waving a hand at him. “Leave your shorts and jeans here, I’ll wash them.” With that she turned and moved behind one of the bathroom separating the toilets, giving him a modicum of privacy. He stood still for a moment before doing as she said, slipping behind one of the plastic curtains before disrobing completely. Clutching to plastic to his body he peeked out, his eyes darting over the room. She was still out of sight. Feeling a weird sense of gratitude he tossed the dirty bundle onto the main floor and dipped his head under the lukewarm water, raising goose bumps across his flesh. He waited, straining his ears over the water for any noise, any indication he might not be alone.

When he looked out again, the clothes were gone.

With a deep sigh of relief Adam withdrew and plunged back into the water, a rush of calm spreading everywhere the water touched him. It wasn’t as hot as he would have liked, but good merciful God it felt good. As the water flowed down his tattered skin he allowed himself to relax for the first time since he had realized he was sick.

“Dear God,” he whispered in his mind, “for this providence, thank you.”

His prayers were never long, clumsy as he was with words, and more often than not he was silent on what that befell him. But this, in particular, seemed like a time when the gifter of his soul was due some recognition. Certainly nothing Adam had done had warranted what he had stumbled onto, and he had since his run-in with Naberius all those decades ago developed an appreciation for the times when things of this nature happened. Not having a soul for two hundred years and then finding yourself with one tended to have that effect.

He stayed still under the water for several minutes and allowed his mind to go blank before reaching for the bottles Anna had given him, rubbing the gel into his hair with relish. The suds that came away in his hand were grey and he crinkled his nose in disgust; he was a mess.

Forty minutes later after he felt relatively certain that he had scrubbed at least two layers of dirt and skin off of himself Adam emerged from the shower feeling better than he had in a month, albeit still weak. Donning the clothes Anna had left him he gathered the empty soap bottles and made his way back to the stairwell and the warmth of Anna’s apartment. He allowed himself a small, pleased smile; he rarely was afforded the opportunity to wash until his hands pruned and the effect was a novel one. He was examining the tips of his fingers as he swung the door to Anna’s flat open and stopped in his tracks when two voices fell on his ears.

“-you trust it? Him, excuse me.” a voice that wasn’t Anna’s was saying. Adam crept slowly into the hallway, his hunting stealth surging through his illness-weakened limbs.

“I didn’t say I _trust_ him, Cort, not absolutely, not yet. But I’m not afraid of him and I don’t know why you think I should be. He’s done nothing more than anybody else that’s come to me for help and I think that you’re being foolish.” Anna replied to her companion. If Adam had not been intent on sneaking onto the scene he would have felt rather exhilarated to hear Anna actually say she didn’t fear him. Sometimes humans pretended, though Anna didn’t seem like the kind for braggadocio.

“He came here with _weapons_ , Chief. That’s got to be indicative of something!” The unknown voice had an odd, almost mechanical quality to it. Adam couldn’t put his finger on why, but it was almost familiar.

“And I almost put a _bullet_ in his eye when he fell through the window. I believe that would be more a sign of the times than anything else. Just because I’ve never been attacked here, thanks be, it doesn’t mean he’s the only one who’s ever come into my house armed. Come on be honest, you scan everyone that comes in here. Is he the first?”

The other voice didn’t respond. Adam reached the end of the hallway and peered cautiously around the corner as Anna ‘hmmed’ in triumph. She was perched on the back of one of the sofas, facing away from him. A hairbrush sat next to her and she was in the process of gathering her hair into a rubber band. Her companion was nowhere to be seen. Adam knitted his brow in confusion and remained quiet.

“I’m just saying, be cautious.” The invisible person admonished. “I mean, my scans… he just makes me nervous.”

Anna wrapped her hair into a bun, tucking it into the band with an exasperated sigh.

“And I’m just saying leave it alone. He’s my _patient_ , Cortana. Anything more than that is his business at this juncture. I will administer care until he is better, like I always do.”

Out of sight, Cortana was silent for a beat.

“Administering care to him is a world of difference from caring _about_ him, Chief. You sure you know where that line is?” She asked very softly.

From his vantage point Adam’s eye flicked quickly to Anna, who had become very still and did not respond immediately.

“Yes, it lies in the intersection of what he’s willing to tell and if he’s willing to listen, neither of which I’ve been able to ascertain yet. I adore you, Cort,” She finally said, her words measured and even. “You’re my best friend. But you know as well as I do that you don’t understand what this is like. Can’t understand, through no fault of your own, just the same way most of my other patients who come through here have no way of understanding.” Anna’s hand strayed to her shoulder. It was an unconscious gesture, Adam realized. In his growing haze of confusion he wondered if she had ever noticed that she did it at all.

“Can you blame me,” Anna continued slowly, “If I was the littlest bit excited that somebody who might possibly get it just happened to crash through my window into my care?”

“No…I guess I can’t.” With a start to Adam’s senses Cortana came into his line of vision, balancing ‘herself’ on the edge of the sofa next to Anna, casting a blue glow on the doctor as she settled.

‘Hologram’ Adam said to himself. He knew the word, but he had never seen one outside of the holo-screens that had become so popular in the recent decades, and those were relatively easy to get used to. This one on the other hand was extremely well constructed, and had it not been for the thin threads of blue light that connected the image to the projectors in the ceiling, he might not have known it was a hologram at all. But the figure flickered as it moved to place an imaginary hand on Anna’s shoulder, and the illusion was shattered.

“But be careful, will you?” Cortana said, the holographic face full of concern. “I just have this really bad feeling that he’s much more than he seems to be. And on the surface, he’s an awful lot to handle already.”

“Then we have a lot in common, don’t we?” Anna said with a rueful smile. “I’ll keep my distance, if it will make you feel better. For now. And for the record I think I handled him just fine.”

“If I was feeling les apprehensive I would make a crack about your ‘bedside manner’, but I think I’ll leave that where it is.” Cortana replied sarcastically.

Anna laughed.

“Yes, please don’t. I’d prefer this be as least complicated as possible.”

“Good luck with that.”

Adam began to feel vaguely uncomfortable as he listened. Anna had placed some level of trust in him and eavesdropping on her felt particularly ungrateful, even if he was now roiling with a dozen more unanswered questions than he had before.

Shuttering his curiosity he stepped out from behind the wall, catching the hologram’s eye as he moved into the room. She gave a little cry and stood bolt upright before winking out and reappearing several feet away, her hands over her mouth and her holographic eyes wide. Adam stopped, vaguely amused that of all things the hologram, the thing he could not touch, appeared to be frightened of him when Anna merely turned and quirked an eyebrow in his direction.

“Welcome back. I was sure you’d drowned. Cortana was afraid I’d need to do mouth-to-mouth. She gets weird about stuff like that.” Anna gave him a cheeky look and swiveled her head to look at Cortana.

The hologram was still fixated on Adam, her eyes darting over him in something close to fear, if it was possible for it to feel. Adam crossed his arms over his chest, for once not the least unnerved by the stares. Human stares usually were followed by anger and attacks. The stares from a machine meant nothing. He met her gaze with a cool, challenging look, utterly unperturbed, to which she responded by moving a step backwards.

“Cortana, it’s rude to stare.” Anna said, her voice taking on a hard edge. Cortana dropped her hands from her mouth but did not break her gaze. Anna looked between the two of them, watching the standoff in disbelief.

“Ok enough y’all.” She said, irritation creeping into her voice along with the tiniest hint of an accent that seemed to sharpen rather than blunt the edge that her tone had taken on. She turned and dropped over the back of the sofa, coming to stand next to Adam. To his surprise she had donned eye makeup; a smudge of black at the corners of each grey eye, something that he did not connect with ‘work’ at all. She had changed her clothes while he had been in the shower to a pair of slacks with a t-shirt, and odd combination of informal and professional. Over it she wore a white lab coat, the whole picture sparking memories once again of Terra that Adam shoved aside.

“Adam, this is Cortana, my house manager, organizer, receptionist-“

“Guard dog,” Adam supplied, enjoying the indignant noise the hologram emitted.

“ _And_ my friend.” Anna stressed, her irritation turning on him. “She was the one who maintained your vitals while I was treating you.”

The hologram muttered something that sounded suspiciously like ‘ungrateful golem’. That peaked Adam’s interest a little; the hologram _knew_. Oh his guard, Adam turned to Anna, incredulous.

“It’s a machine.” He said.

The room seemed to go cold. Anna’s eyes went wide and then hard as chips of steel as she level her gaze at him.

“She. Not It.” Anna growled through clenched teeth, belying a deep-set fury Adam sensed but could not fathom.

Her words struck much farther home than she could have possible guessed and Adam started, his mouth falling open in shock. He heard those same words echoed in a hundred iterations in his own past and it rocked him to the core. That coupled with the anger it seemed to incite in Anna gave him serious pause for thought and his mind whirled as her eyes caught him and burned him in grey flame.

A machine. A man-made, fabricated, soulless being. Staring at him with anger, with hurt, with emotion. Insulted. He felt like ice had dropped into his stomach.

Oh, he was an idiot.

Adam cast his eyes to the floor, ashamed of himself, though as ever he kept his head erect, proud.

“I’m…I apologize, Cortana. That was inconsiderate of me.” He let his gaze rise, focusing on the hologram not ready to get caught in Anna’s anger again. “Forgive my… I misspoke. I’ve not interacted much with…”

“Machines.” Cortana said coldly, crossing her arms over her chest.

“People.” He corrected, stressing the word. Cortana narrowed her eyes suspiciously, perhaps trying to discern if he was merely acting contrite.

“And ...thank you, for watching over me when I was ill.” He said in a rush, feeling very much the center of attention, never a place he felt confortable in. A hand touched his bare forearm.

“Thank you Adam. We appreciate that.” Anna’s voice was quiet, almost breathless. Adam looked at her, but she was staring at Cortana. Something wordless and heavy passed between the two of them and after a moment Cortana unclasped her arms and waved a hand dismissively.

“Yeah, sure.” The A.I. replied crisply. Anna coughed and the hologram pinched the bridge of her nose. “And you’re welcome. I guess.”

She sent a scathing look Adam’s way and he did not have the heart to match it. He was overcome with a sudden lightheadedness and he swayed on his feet. Instantly Anna’s grasp on his arm became less timid, steadying him with a ‘whoa!’. Anna swept in front of him, instantly clinical.

“I think that might be enough time upright for you. You’re still going to need a lot of rest. Let’s go.”

With no desire to protest Adam allowed Anna to guide him back towards the open door of his room. Cortana sniffed and suddenly looked towards the main entry of the flat, her head canted down as if she was looking through the floorboards.

“Chief, you’ve got a patient coming up. Want me to turn them away until Mr. Scars and Stripes is feeling better?” She said making her voice nasal.

Adam opened his mouth to retort when Anna grabbed his arm and propelled him towards the room he had been sleeping in.

“Lord, no, Cortana. Let them come up.” Anna rebuked. “And behave please!”

The tension momentarily defused, Adam still managed to throw a glare at Cortana where she hovered. The A.I. grimaced at him and flickered into the lab.

“Did she come like that?” Adam asked as Anna guided him back to the bed. Anna groaned.

“Please, please don’t antagonize her. You scared the bejeezus out of her when you snuck out onto the balcony and she’s just being defensive.” Adam knew she wasn’t telling him the whole truth, the conversation he had overheard was evidence enough of that. Cortana knew what he was, he was certain of it and it frightened her. The scans she had made during the operation, perhaps. Whether or not the holographic woman had shared those facts with Anna or not was something he was uncertain about but he tended to think (or hope perhaps) not. It would explain why Anna was not as afraid of him as, in his opinion, she should be.

Something else niggled at the back of his mind and he stopped before Anna could plunk him down on the bed.

“She can see someone coming up from the first floor?” He demanded ungracefully.

“Yes, and before you ask, the answers to your next questions are yes, she saw you coming up and yes, she could have stopped you if I had allowed her to. She can control the locks on all the stairwells and the elevator function. I told you, she’s my house manager. Get in bed.” She pushed him with little effect towards the bed.

“Why did you let me come up?” He suddenly very much wanted to know. She gave and frustrated sigh.

“If I tell you will you get back in bed?”

He nodded.

“Fine. She said you had a fever and that you were moving oddly. I wanted to help. Of course when you started sneaking onto the balcony she got understandably agitated and I got cautious.”

“Hence the gun.” Adam with an iota of guilt

“Hence the gun.” Anna agreed. “You’re pretty lucky she scanned you first. If you hadn’t had a fever I would have fired.”

Adam met her eyes. She looked almost pained as she nodded, punctuating the point. Rather than feeling indignant Adam found himself appreciating her honesty and her sense of self-preservation; the latter something he valued highly himself. After a while she became visibly uncomfortably under his scrutiny.

“Ok, question time is over. Bed. I don’t want you to get out for the rest of the day.”

“What am I supposed to do in bed all day?” Adam protested, although the though of falling once again into the bed and sleeping was an incredibly pleasurable one. His unsteadiness was turning in outright nausea the longer he stood.

“Oh was there something you were planning on doing today?” In her frustration, or perhaps the fading of her nerves from his and Cortana’s confrontation Anna’s clinical air had dropped. As maddeningly insistent as she became when unprofessional, Adam much preferred speaking with her this way. It felt much more natural.

“Well?” She asked him, clearly expecting an answer. She stared him down until he looked away and sat on the bed in defeat.

“That’s what I thought.” Her voice softened as she went on. “Sleep, Adam. I’ll leave the door cracked in case you need me for anything. Normally I’d put Cortana on bed check duty but…”

Adam nodded; Cortana probably would let him suffer in silence at this point. He turned himself from that thought before any guilt could grasp him and fumbled with the sheets lowing himself slowly to the pillow. The bed felt deliciously soft beneath him and before he could think about Anna still standing over him, he was out.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're off again! Just a quick note for you guys, in my version of this story Ophir and Kaziah survived the first battle with Naberius. They seemed to have far more camraderie with Adam than anyone else and damnit I feel like at least ONE person should like the poor guy, you know? Its far too interesting a dynamic to ignore and imo they should have been included in the movie. So they are alive, and will come into play later on but for now they're just going to get mentions.  
> Also yes, 'Cortana' is THAT Cortana. I thought it was funny that in this time period she'd be considered 'vintage' as it were, and that of all the hundreds of personalities Anna could have chosen for her AI, she goes for that one.  
> Thank you so much for reading and as always, enjoy!

The next several days were little more than sleeping for Adam. Never before in his long life had he been so poorly, barely able to make it out of bed to wash and relieve himself and quickly passing into unconsciousness again before his head hit the pillow. Secretly, he feared he wasn’t going to get better.

Slowly though, he did. He was never again unable to feed himself. Anna left bowls of broth and bread for him to find upon waking on the nightstand, usually accompanied by small yellow notes giving him helpful instructions like ‘push the red button to heat it if it’s cool’ on the small disk that sat under the bowl of broth or ‘drink ALL of this water before you go back to sleep’ on a cup. He was so out of it that he never heard her bring these things in, nor take them away. She began adding small chunks of vegetables to his broth after a day or two, mushrooms and onions or unidentifiable leafy greens. Again he marveled at her ability to find fresh food in the dead part of the city but ate everything she left with gratitude and pure enjoyment.

In his waking time he heard the bustle of Anna’s ‘work’ outside of his door, but did not investigate. He heard many voices, sometimes in different languages, which was enough to keep him content at his confinement to the bed. Unafraid of humanity at last, he still did not relish being in the thick of them especially in his current weakened state. 

In the evenings when the voices faded from the other room, Anna would come in and wake him, checking his pulse and ask him how he was feeling. She looked tired in the evenings and frazzled, her makeup not quite as crisp as it had been the morning he had first woken. But her smile though tired was constant, the clinical distance chipping off of it the more she came in to check on him. As he recovered he began to feel uncommonly shy about these times; he was not used to so much attention. Not even Terra had been brave enough, save once, to pay him that much consideration even though he knew she had wanted to.

Four days after being sentenced to bed rest, Adam began to feel somewhat imprisoned as his body began no longer needing as much sleep. He found himself lying awake for hours listening to Anna chatter to the people coming and going in her apartment, Cortana sometimes acting as translator.

H curiosity for Anna and her ‘work’ was beginning to get the better of him as he heard the front door of her clinic open again and again, Cortana’s mechanically cheery “Hello! Welcome!” ringing out over the growing murmur of voices in the room.

Finally his inquisitiveness became unbearable and climbing from his sickbed Adam crept as quietly as he was able to the sliding door, nudging it open a tiny crack.

Peering out his eyes widened; the couches were filled with people. Several older gentlemen, a few scruffy-looking youth and one woman with three children who must have been triplets all crowded together in Anna’s living room. One of the triplets had a bloody patch adhered to his forehead, but it seemed to give him no trouble as he pulled his sister’s hair.

The lab itself was obscured by frosted-glass panels that Adam had not noticed before. Like most of the entry and exit ways in Anna’s flat they appeared to glide along the floor and ceiling; they must have been drawn aside when he had made his grand laughable entrance through the balcony side. The glass was backlight by the picture windows and he could see figures moving within.

As if on cue one of the panels slide aside and Anna stepped through leading an elderly woman by her hand.

“Mr. Kittredge? Dimitra is ready to go.” She said, flashing a smile that rang utterly false to Adam.

One of the older men stood and crossed to the ladies, taking Dimitra’s arm and hooking it securely under his own. 

“Its just a cold, not Dust Fever!” Anna declared. The man visibly relaxed, smiling at his wife as she patted his hand. Anna’s imitation smile took on a more authentic quality as she watched them. She handed the man a small box.

“It’s not too serious but I would like to keep an eye on it since dust season’s coming. There are three doses of nanite syrettes in this box. One at bedtime for three days, drink plenty of fluid (water is best) and let me know if it gets worse or if that cough turns dry.” 

The man thanked her over and over before pulling the woman towards the door of the clinic as she chattered at him in a language unfamiliar to Adam. The old lady hit his shoulder in annoyance and frustration; a gesture so reminiscent of Anna’s tapping him on the head when he was ill that Adam found himself smiling as the old couple turned back to where Anna stood. Mr. Kittredge fumbled in his black briefcase and drew out a jar filled with something viscous and golden, handing it to Anna with a sheepish smile. It took Adam a moment to recognize the substance but when he did his jaw dropped slightly as Anna exclaimed her gratitude while the other patients in the room eyes the jar with envy.

It was honey, honest to God honey. Bees, especially honeybees, had not fared well during the war. Too quickly the opposing forces had turned to chemical weapons that had swept the world with a vicious force. When the world came out of it, shaking their heads to clear the dust from their eyes the bees were gone outside of a few laboratories and citadel cities. Honey outside of a citadel was almost unheard of and Adam scrutinized the old couple with suspicion.

Anna it seemed had none of his misgivings as she once again thanked the Kittredges and placed the jar in one of the kitchen cabinets. From where Adam was standing, he could see the shelf lined with jars full of other commodities; vegetables, jams, things he hadn’t seen in decades. His curiosity deepened as Anna crossed back into the makeshift waiting area.

“Alright, I think Mrs. Daniels and the three terrors are next?” She said, sticking her tongue out at the triplets who ran past her into the lab, shrieking as they did. Their mother rose and followed at a somewhat slower pace.

“Hullo Anna,” Mrs. Daniels said, her voice a rich Cockney. “Sorry ta drop in li’ this. Is just Mikey was runnin’ in tha tunnels again so ‘e was and-“ Her voice became muffled as Anna slid the frosted glass shut, effectively reducing their voices to unintelligible muttering.

Something blue flashed into his vision, a pixelated eye gazing at him sharply.

“What are you doing?” Cortana’s voice snapped.

With a cry Adam jerked away from the door, tripping down the wide low steps of the room to land with a thud on the floor. The A.I. peered at him with amusement as he fumbled to his feet, his hands shaking, whether in anger of from adrenaline Adam wasn’t sure. Immediately the humans in the next room became silent and the glass door whooshed.

“ _Cortana_.”Anna’s voice reprimanded. The hologram flickered away as Anna pulled the door to Adam’s room open, a look of pure annoyance spread over her face.

“Little jumpy, isn’t he?” Cortana laughed as Anna stalked into the room, slamming the door behind her.

“Are you alright?” She asked in a peeved tone. Adam backed up a step from her, afraid he had done something wrong. Anna pressed a finger to her temple.

“I’m sorry about that. Cortana forgives you, but it’ll be a while before she’s pleasant to you. You aren’t the first person she’s done it too.” She gestured to the bed. “Here, sit down and let me get your temperature while I’m here.”

Adam obeyed, thankful that her ire was not directly wholly at him, while Anna rifled through her lab coat pockets for the tiny thermometer. She removed its plastic cap and pressed it to his ear, clicking its buttons twice and waiting.

“Was she always like that?” Adam asked, repeating his question from a few days before. Anna shrugged.

“Ah…She was a wayward CNA program that I had been developing with some of my friends years ago when I was in medical school. They wanted her to be very clinical and direct, which didn’t read too well with patients and most doctors didn’t enjoy the lack of personality. It made her hard to interact with, so when they abandoned the project I picked it up and gave her some personality. Thus; Cortana.” Anna explained. The thermometer chirped and she pulled back to flash the holographic display. “Your temp has normalized. That’s good.” She placed the buds of her stethoscope in her ears and pressed it to his chest. “Breath deep.”

He did as he was told, his curiosity still nagging him.

“But…why program her like…that?” he asked lamely, unsure of how to frame the question politely. Anna smiled.

“Quiet, I can’t hear your lungs.” She reprimanded. After a moment of listening she continued. “I wanted someone who would contradict me when I was doing something dumb. The older version just ‘yes doctor’-ed me and I thought it could be dangerous. So I searched for something with a little more sass and a lot more keeping track of what I was doing and calling me out on it.” She moved the stethoscope across his chest. “I tried a couple of different characters before I found one that I liked. She’s from a video game-“

“Halo.” Adam said, he memory sparking to life. Anna looked at him in dumb surprise.

“You played Halo.” She intoned, nonplussed. Adam snorted.

“Of course not, I didn’t have a…home.” He began, “But for a while you couldn’t walk through any major city without seeing advertisements for it.”

Adam stopped himself with a click of his jaw, realizing he was dating himself terribly; it had been over 200 years since then. He shifted his eyes away from Anna, trying to be as casual as possible for him to be, which is to say he fidgeted and wormed under her gaze. The doctor was silent for a moment and Adam was afraid she’d begin to ask him questions. But she simply stood and considered him.

“Well… you are almost completely back to normal from what I can gather.” Adam swiveled his head back to her, not believing the moment was going to pass with an inquisition. Anna’s expression was unreadable.

“I’d like you to rest a few more days before I do my final exam, if you think you can bear it. I can remove your stiches as well if their healing as quickly as those bruises did.” The questions she wasn’t asking hung in the air, buzzing around Adam’s head like angry wasps. The bruises had vanished after only a day, as most of his bruises save the truly severe did. It was inhumanly fast healing, and he should have known Anna would take note. So why wasn’t she pressing the issue? His desire to remain somewhat anonymous began to argue with his growing desire to know why she hadn’t asked yet, the tussle reaching a clamor in his brain. He must have looked truly distressed because Anna gave him a rueful smile.

“Look, I get the sense you don’t get sick very often, more than that I know you don’t like being confined. You can’t push your luck though, not with an infection as bad as the one you came to me with. I can, however make it a little better at least.”  

She crossed the room and stood in front of the corner, tapping a panel on each wall as she had the walls of the bathroom earlier. The panels whistled and the walls began to move, lifting like a pair of accordions over her head and revealing several shelves of books. Adam stood and crossed quickly to the shelves, running his fingers over the spines of a dozen books.

“Do you prefer paper or pad?” Anna asked him. He looked at her in confusion. She smiled and reached onto one of the shelves and pulled out a flat-screened device. With a touch of her finger it illuminated, casting a white glow onto her face.

“There are about a thousand books loaded on this thing, so the choice is yours, really.” She extended the pad to him, which he accepted in awe.

Adam had never been afforded the chance to read for pleasure for any length of time. Not in recent memory, not in his early days, not even when he and Terra spent time together. He had always tried when he could, after learning that the symbols meant something and beyond meaning something told stories and gave you knowledge and opened the world to possibilities his own limited scope could not provide. He looked over the bounty with a growing sense of childish glee, suddenly knowing exactly what he wanted to look for.

“Do you have a Bible?” He asked quickly. Anna stared at him, her face a picture of shock.

“Uhm…” she began, her eyes darting over the shelves. “Not here. Hang on though.”

She dashed from the room, leaving Adam to his own devices as excitement grew within him.

Terra had not kept a Bible and he wasn’t allowed to touch the Scripture in the Gargoyles’ cathedral, so his research on souls from (to his mind) the most credible source was severely lacking. He had shunned the Internet in its entirety after his second or third attempt to navigate it despite Terra’s insistence that he at least try to use it. He had found nothing useful, and he did not know the magic questions to ask to make it give him the answers. The thing was tuned to humans who had lived among humans all their lives; he was not one of those. He looked over the paper titles, abandoning the tablet on a shelf. He began pulling tomes out, piling them in his arms.

He had accumulated a stack of five or six when Anna returned, a weather-beaten copy of the Bible in her hand.

“I don’t expect you to be in bed long enough to read all of those!” She commented, but did not laugh. She placed the Bible on top of his stack.

“It was buried.” She said, pointing to the book. “It was my mother’s. If you see a bunch of scribbles in writing you can’t read, that’s her. I uh… I don’t look at it as much anymore.”

Something unsaid hovered in the air between them, almost tangible. Anna wasn’t looking at him, but down at the book she had placed in his hands. Adam realized she had left an opening, much as he had a few minutes earlier, for questions. Whether she had meant to or not he wasn’t sure, but the way she had begun to chew her lip told him enough. He wrangled the inquiries that had risen to his mouth and put his hand on top of the books.

“Thank you.” He said, allowing his usual stony demeanor to be broken by an overwhelming sense of gratitude. A thought suddenly occurred to him and he sobered quickly. “I… I don’t have any way to repay you. I was going to trade the food packs for medicine but-“

“I wouldn’t accept them.” Anna nodded, her face knowing.

“Even if you would,” Adam continued. “What I have wouldn’t repay what you’ve done.”

Anna gave him a strange look before answering.  

“Funny you should ask for a Bible, then.” She said, a touch of irony in her voice. “Couple of the guys in there have an awful lot to say about that subject.”

Adam didn’t know how to reply to that. Anna shook her head and placed a hand on the stack of books. “We can talk about it later, if you insist. Bed. Now.”

She remained to insure that he did indeed climb into bed before sliding the door closed.

“Call me if you need anything.” She said cheerfully and then was gone.

Adam settled himself and opened the worn Bible, enjoying the crackle of the binding under his fingertips.

 

That evening Adam awoke to find the flat incredibly quiet. He flipped the book he had been reading when he fell asleep closed and rose, pleased to note that his stealth was coming back to him as his health improved. He barely made a sound as he crept to the door, gliding it open and peeking into the main room of Anna’s flat.

It was dark save for a few glowing lights on the machines in the lab. Sheer curtains had been pulled across the balcony doors, muting the light from Nerium Tower though it’s fuzzy outline still stood prominently in the dark. Adam paced catlike across the floor as his head swiveled one way then the other, searching.

“Anna?” He called softly.

“She’s asleep.”

Blue light flickered out of the corner of Adam’s eye and he turned. Cortana appeared, lounging on the longer of the two couches, her legs crossed at the ankles and her fingers laced together in her lap. Had she been waiting for him? She eyed Adam warily, but without the malice she possessed on their first meeting.

“It was a long day. She crashed out about an hour ago.” Cortana herself sounded tired, or perhaps it was stressed. The intonations of her voice were so human that Adam again felt a pang of guilt for his accusation a few days ago.

“Oh” was all he said, shuffling awkwardly as the AI continued to regard him.

Finally Cortana sighed and stood.

“Are you hungry?” She asked, crossing her arms over her chest. “I can’t…touch anything but I can show you where it all is and how to get it ready.”

“I…yes, thank you. Cortana.” Adam stuttered out, surprised at her admission and the depth of feeling it carried. She had said it so wistfully; she resented her holographic form.

The hologram in question narrowed her eyes at him but strode briskly into the kitchen, pointing to various cabinets as she went.

“Jars of soup. Pots are under the sink, stove’s pretty simple. Spoons, bowls.” She perched on the counter, watching him as he ambled slowly around the tiny kitchen. He pulled a jar from the cupboard she had indicated, pausing to take stock of the rest of its contents.

“Where does she get all of this?” he asked, mystified. “She doesn’t make it herself, does she?”

It seemed an unlikely option; Anna was busy in the clinic. Cortna was rolling her eyes.

“If Anna ever gives you anything _she_ made, don’t eat it. It’d probably end up being poisonous.” The AI jibed.  Adam didn’t bother to cover his surprised laugh. Cortana’s lips twitched, but her guard remained firmly in place.

“She takes it in trade mostly.” Cortana replied after a beat. Adam turned to look at her, encouraged, before moving to the next cabinet, fishing out a pot and dumping the contents of the jar in.

“From the clinic?” Adam prodded, somewhat afraid the AI would snap at him. Instead she cocked her head to the side and looking surprised that he was actually engaging her in conversation.

“Ah, yes. Folks out here don’t have too much money, but they have their ways of living. World went back a step or two as I understand it after the war and now you humans are back to barter and trade, unless you live in the citadel where money actually talks. There are quite a few of Anna’s patients who eek out a living under the city where its safer. Some have almost what you’d call farms, hydroponic mostly, but a few have real, healthy soil farms. And with farming comes injuries and there’s always Dust Fever to treat and living in a crumbling city has its own inherent dangers. Anna makes out pretty well, she’s been lucky.”

“Indeed. Since she hates food packs so much.” Adam said blithely as he stirred the soup over the heating coil. Cortana gave a short laugh.

“She’s spoiled is what she is. I don’t understand why she hates them, they’re perfectly serviceable nutritional nourishment. Anna has just never been able to get past the reconstituted meat. She says it tastes like cardboard.”

“Neither can I.” Adam admitted. “I guess living in the citadel got her used to the real stuff.”

He had spoken without thinking and Cortana went silent, her face stoney.

“I’m not going to tell you about her if that’s why you’re making nice.” The AI said acidly. Adam held up both of his hands, immediately defensive.

“I didn’t mean… I wasn’t prying, it was just an observation, I’m sorry. And… as far as ‘making nice’… that has more to do with making an apology than trying to get information.” He met Cortana’s eyes, which were once again narrowed in suspicion and hoped his twisted face at least look apologetic. “I am sorry for what I said before. It… It wasn’t right.”  

The AI continued to stare at him for a moment before looking away.

“Well… I did call you a golem.” She said and Adam knew she was apologizing.  

“It wasn’t untrue.” He said quietly. Cortana whipped around to face him, her face a mask of alarmed surprise. The corner of his mouth turned up in a small, understanding smile and he shrugged. She considered him with a long look of disbelief.

“It was still rude.” She finally said in a small voice, an extremely timid smile crossing her face. They lapsed into silence, an understanding bridge seeming to have spanned the open air between them, both of them almost human.

“Your soups boiling.” Cortana finally said. Adam quickly turned and attended to the food, spilling it into a bowl and cursing under his breath as a small portion sloshed onto the counter. Cortana snorted behind him, but turned her face away from his when he turned to look.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s less mess than she makes.” The AI gestured to the sink which was full of unwashed dishes.

Adam scowled at the soiled counter but swept his dinner away to the high countertop where two stools stood tucked under the overhang at the end of the kitchen’s island. Cortana considered him in silence as he blew gently across the top of his bowl and took a few cautious slurps. Finally her scrutiny grew uncomfortable.

“You’re…protective of Anna, aren’t you?” Adam ventured, looking into his soup instead of fixing his gaze on Cortana. He heard her sigh, then she flickered into sight on the counter where he was eating a comfortable distance away, her legs dangling off the edge near the second stool.

“Anna treats me like a human.” She gave him a holographic grimace. “She doesn’t have to, but she does.”

At Adam’s confused look she continued.

“I’m an AI, a very sophisticated computer program and for all my mannerisms and all Anna’s insistence otherwise, I serve a function and that’s all I can do. I only feel and think because Anna gave me permission to do so when she changed my programming. You know I still remember what it was like before she upgraded me? It was boring. She gave me, well… not life but the closest thing to it I think a program could have.”

Cortana was looking off into a far corner of the flat. Adam followed her gaze down a hallway that intersected with the one that led to the stairwell. It was dark, but Adam could see another sliding door like the one that separated his room from the living room.

‘Anna’s room.’ He thought as he turned back to the AI, filing the information away for later. Cortana looked at him again, her face a mixture of regret and concern.

“She calls me her friend, and I am. If I had a life, I’d die for her. But I’m not human, and despite her best efforts I never will be. I can’t understand everything that humans feel. I can record a stimulus and a result and I can mimic it, but I can’t really, really feel. I know that sometimes Anna hurts, and I can know what it is that hurts, but I can’t understand why it hurts her. Not if it isn’t physical.” Cortana knitted her brow. “But I would stop whatever it was from hurting her. I’d break myself down and faze out if I thought it would help her.”

Adam stared at her.

“Why?” he asked breathlessly.

“Because she makes me feel human. She doesn’t see the differences between what makes me tick and what makes her tick. It’s… a rare gift amongst humans.”

“It is…” Adam agreed quietly. “Amongst humans.”

Cortana drew a hissing breath and then was quiet. The question Adam had been dreading pushed itself against his teeth and demanded a voice.

“Cortana…your scans when I first came here, during the…operation…” He was once more looking into his soup, but he saw the hologram’s head turn towards him out of the corner of his eye. “What did you see?”

The hologram did not answer him right away. When she did her voice was carefully even, but he heard her struggling with the words.

“Every system in your body is in a stage of necrosis. Bones, organs, even your skin. I thought maybe it was from the infection but-“

“It isn’t.” Adam said, the words strained. Cortana nodded.

“No, it isn’t. You have organs from at least three different donors and bones from at least five or six, not to mention the absolute mess that it your skin.” Adam flinched, but Cortana either didn’t see or ignored it. “If you were anybody else, I’d say you weren’t just dying when you came here, you were already dead. But you operate at about %200 of a normal human’s capacity. Your heart beats harder, your muscles are capable of far more. I don’t know what you are.” She finished, her voice taking on the dangerous edge it had held when he had first met her. “I do not like not knowing what you are.” She said meaningfully.

Adam did not answer the question she had asked without asking.

“I am not human.” He rasped, trying to get a handle on himself; his heart was pounding in his ears.

“Obviously.” Cortana replied dryly.

“Are you…are you going to tell Anna?” Adam asked, his grip on the spoon in his hand tightening.

“What?” Cortana asked, all the edge dropping out of her voice entirely. Adam looked up at her, apprehensive. She looked completely confused.

“Are you going to share the scans with Anna?” He repeated. “The fact that I’m…not human.”

Cortana gave him a little confused shake of her head.

“She’s already seen the scans.” The AI cocked her head as Adam started. “You…you thought she didn’t know?”

Adam shook his head, staring at her as warring emotions of horror and relief fought for dominance in his mind.

“Why…why did she let me stay?” He blurted out in something like desperation. His brain was in turmoil; she had known and she let him stay. _Demanded_ he stay. “Why didn’t she turn me away?”

Cortana regarded him for a long time, and then cast her glance once more towards Anna’s room.

“She…” The AI began, then seemed to change her mind. “She has her reasons. If I was human I might understand them but I don’t. I don’t trust you, and I don’t think she should either. But for some reason she wants you here. I think, no I _know_ , she’s too trusting. ” She alighted from the counter and began walking slowly back to the lab, talking to him over her shoulder.

“You said I was protective of Anna and its true. I think you’re trouble. I don’t want you here, whatever you are, you _shouldn’t_ be here. When your stitches are out, leave.”

With their temporary understanding shrouded for a moment and the mistrust firmly back in place, Cortana blinked out of the room, leaving Adam alone with his rapidly cooling soup and a tumult of conflicting thoughts.

The words stung, but no more than they ever had, and not coming from Cortana with her mechanical eyes and insubstantial body. He was used to that kind of fear, the repulsion and the anger. Even in this day and age where humanity was scraping itself together, nevermind what pieces were missing, when the people around him looked with envy, _envy_ at his misshapen face with its two eyes, his body with its whole limbs and its strength. It ruffled feathers still only this time it was because now on the surface at least he looked more human than they. The unfounded accusations of monster, mutation, machine. That was nothing new; it was human to be afraid. It surprised him coming from the AI, but it wasn’t new.

It made him angry. That was familiar too. It was like a blanket he drew around his shoulders, the anger and the defiance it bred. It was an old friend he greeted with a grudging respect. He had worn it when the gargoyles had first offered him a place among them at the cathedral.

“I go my own way.” He had told them. Not aware enough then that it was simply because they had asked him to stay that he was leaving. It was all he had left to him, the ability to take a stand and to chart his own course. Then and now it was what was left; his stubborn clinging to life, his life, his own life.

Ophir understood. Ophir had never pressed him, never told him how to live. He had simply stood near enough to help Adam back up after whatever pig-headed decision he made had backfired. Watched his back when the demons got too close, too many. Their friendship had been grudging and slow to awaken in his first 200 years simply because Adam had refused to allow it, had kept his walls too firmly in place. He had been so young, his anger fresh and raw.

And now…? He did not let himself turn and look at the door that closed him off from Anna’s room. His cloak of anger felt suddenly burdensome, but the defiance remained. If the woman was not afraid of him, what was always following him would make her afraid. That he was sure of. Memories of Terra leapt unbidden to the forefront of his mind; always on her guard, checking over her shoulder every time she turned a corner, almost too afraid to start a family, the weaponry she hid from her husband and children. All things he had seen as he watched over her. It had broken his heart.

There would be no more Terras. Adam shoved his defiance aside. He was too old to let it rule him now, his eternal quest notwithstanding. He had failed to protect Terra from the life he led, he would not fail to do so with another human who had helped him. The questions he had did not _need_ to be answered. She was just another blip on the radar of his unnatural life, and like Terra would be gone too soon. It didn’t matter to him, he repeated to himself. It didn’t matter at all.

He went quietly back to his meal, his resolution firmly in place. When he had finished he placed the bowl in the sink and paced to his room, plunging himself into the bed and shutting out every thought pertaining to his host and the questions in his head demanding answers.

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoy!

Cortana’s yells dredged him from a deep sleep only a few hours later. In a furious rush of adrenaline Adam threw himself from the bed, catapulting towards his neatly folded gear and scooping up his kali before racing to the door of his room as every nerve in his body switched into fight mode.

It was still dark, the rim of the world not even tinged by impending sunrise. Anna ran past him in long sleeved pajamas, her bare feet slapping against the floor and tripping over the extra length of the pants. Cortana followed, chattering frantically. Neither looked at Adam.

“Her drive is completely warped, it looks like EMP damage, but she’s been beaten so badly the thing is cracked and she’s leaking coolant… Chief I don’t think-“

“I’m not calling it until I look at her!” Anna snapped at the AI. Her face was flushed and her brow knitted in concern and concentration. “Just queue up the lab as fast as you can and get ready for surgery!”

Not looking to see if her orders had been obeyed, the doctor flew out of the flat into the hallway. Cortana immediately flashed into the lab that illuminated and began to click and whir, coming alive in the night. Machines Adam had not noticed before slid out of their places in the walls and the table on which he himself had lain only a week before rose into position from the floor. His stomach clenched at the sight of it, but he was far too distracted by the sight of Anna returning to the flat to let the fear spread much further. She had someone’s arm thrown over her shoulder; Adam couldn’t make out any facial features, the woman was covered in blood from head to toe and she was completely unresponsive. On the victim’s other side was a scraggly-looking boy who supported the injured woman with a wild desperation, his knuckles white as they gripped her arm and his hazel eyes wide. He was tall and lanky, looking as though he had not yet grown into his limbs. Adam began to thank his lucky stars that he had never had an awkward phase, and then remembered that he had; it involved strangling a woman to death. He pushed the thought violently from his mind and focused on the present.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Anna I just didn’t know who else would help.” The boy babbled as the grisly trio entered the room. Quickly and carefully they dragged the unconscious woman to the lab, lifting her onto the table.

“How did this happen?” Anna asked the boy. Several heads taller than her the thin youth shook his head, running a hand through his wild stack of hair as he did.

“Dunno, we just found her on the side of the road!” His agitation was palpable, and Anna cast sidelong looks at him as he paced the lab. “You can help her, right?”

“I will _try_ , Kit. Just calm down, please. When did you find her?” Anna’s clinical demeanor jostled against her concern as she watched the boy. Adam remained where he was and lowered his kali, a kind of dim fascination settling over him as the scene unfolded.

“An hour? Maybe? We got her here as quick as we could, we was ‘trolling the other side of the city and it was so far… Anna please say you can save her.”

Anna’s mouth pressed itself into a grim line as her hands flew over the woman in a kind of macabre dance with the machines that assisted her.

“Do you know who she is?” Anna asked him softly.

“She ain’t one of ours, but she got outted I’d bet my life on it and I’d win it all!” Kit exploded, his voice choking. He began to blink rapidly, his face working as he tried to hold back tears. “She’s got bots in her and somebody talked and they just beat her and left her on the side of the road like she was _trash_ and Anna you have to save her!” He grabbed Anna’s shoulders, his fingers digging into her arms. From where he was Adam stiffened and a reflexive urge to pull them apart rose so quickly in him he was halfway across the room before he caught up himself.

Anna meanwhile had wrenched herself free of the boy’s grasp, a dangerous fury glinting in her eyes as she pointed into the living room.

“Kittredge, _sit_. I will _try_.” It was command and after a moment the boy whipped around, brushing unseeing past Adam and practically fell into one of the sofas, his head in his hands.

“Cortana, stay with him, please.” Anna instructed as she turned back to the patient before her.

“Don’t you need me to…?” The AI asked uncertainly, pointing to the woman on the table. Anna shook her head as she loaded a vial into something that looked like a cross between a gun and a syringe.

“Not right now. Get him calm. Dose him with something if you have to, but keep him out of my way.” Her eyes flicked up into the darkness, fixing on Adam. He stepped back, afraid she would tell him off, send him back into his room with a stern dismissal. Instead she simply set her jaw with a meaningful look and went back to her work.

It was an invitation, Adam realized after a few moments. Curiosity got the better of him and he began to inch his way towards the open lab.

“That’s close enough.” Anna murmured, not taking her eyes from what she was doing, and he stopped just outside the door. He peered into the brightly lit room, his eyes fixed on Anna’s hands as they passed over the multitude of cuts and bruises covering the woman’s body.

The doctor worked methodically, starting at the patient’s face and working her way down, murmuring as she went. The words appeared next to her on a floating holo-screen, recording every observation she made. Her initial exam done, Anna grabbed the air, bringing up a second holographic image and began to sweep it over the woman’s body. Not finding what she was looking for on the woman’s right side, she moved around the table to exam the left, her back towards Adam.

“Ah, there it is…” She finally said. Several more taps on the image brought her data-readouts, clicking in their own mechanical language. As she considered them, Adam caught sight of a roadmap of pink lines down the back of Anna’s right hand.

‘More scars…’ Adam thought. He wished he could get a closer look. The lines stretched from the tips of her fingers down well past her wrist following the line of her bone structure until they were lost under the sleeve of her shirt.

Ignorant of his scrutiny Anna moved away from the screen to rifle for another tool and Adam was granted a quick view of what she had seen; a grey wash of organic matter surrounding an object that stood out bright blue on the screen.

‘Bots’ Kit had said. Adam had never paid much attention to human street slang, but that one he knew all too well; it had started the war. It had begun innocently enough, implants to correct deafness and blindness, mechanical organs to save lives that would have otherwise been lost. But it had become quickly apparent that biomechanics could be used for far more. The moralizing Americans had quickly clamped down on the underground trade in ‘enhancers’ as they called them, and had feared mechanically augmented people to an almost maniac superstitious level. When it was revealed that the Chinese and their allies had begun surgically enhancing their armies with biomechanical technology, the bombs were launched with no hesitation, and the third World War he had lived through began. Every country had thrown its chips in with one side or another and in the ashes the rest of humanity drowned.

In the wake of the war mechanical prosthetics, organs, bones, veins, anything that wasn’t biological matter to begin with, was all highly illegal and extremely dangerous. Only very stupid or very reckless doctors dealt with it, and most were not nearly well-equipped enough to do it safely. Those that dealt in it led a marked life, those that had accepted the biomechanics, sometimes the only means of preserving their lives, were less than dirt in the eyes of their fellow humans. Adam looked with sudden pity on the woman who was clinging to life in front of him; she must have spent her whole life hiding, and not just from the law. To be outted as Kit claimed was a death sentence. Why anyone risked it was beyond Adam.

Anna had returned to her work, knocking aside the x-ray hologram, which scattered into bits of light before vanishing in thin air. She had clad herself in plastic gloves that stretched over her elbows and donned a pair of protective glasses. They gave her face an almost alien quality and Adam gazed at the transformation in awe. Without hesitation, the doctor pressed the tool in her hand to the bare flesh of the woman right over the place the x-ray had shown the biomechanics at work.

A tremendous crack ricocheted off the bare walls of the clinic. Kit wailed and clutched his head, sobbing, as Adam shuddered.

Anna grimaced as she moved onto the next rib, slicing a rectangle into her patient’s skin and bones and carefully prying it away with a pair of oversized tweezers. Black fluid spilled out onto the table instead of blood and an acrid smell assaulted Adam’s senses. Anna hissed.

“Coolant… oh, hellfire...”

In the living room Cortana left off her comforting murmurs and turned to the lab, her face stricken. Kit, his head still wrapped in his hands began to rock back and forth and sniffling.

Not acknowledging them Anna turned her head to the side and nudged a button on her glasses with her clean wrist. Twin lights snapped on, one on either side of the goggles. She craned her neck, shining the lights into the cavity she had cut. Silence descended as she probed the opening with her hands, then withdrew and flung up screen after screen of holograms, punching in query after query, her face a mask of stone.

Finally she closed her eyes and hung her head. A dead weight settled into Adam’s chest as he watched her wrestle her emotions into control before she strode into the doorway of the lab, not meeting his eye.

“Kit… She was carrying a heart. You know those are dodgy to begin with, and whoever beat her cracked the hardware. She’s been leaking coolant for hours, and it’s poisoned her entire system. She’s gone.” Anna reported as gently as she could, a carefully practiced evenness in her voice. Kit rose to his feet and swung to face Anna with a furious scowl.

“No, no she’s got a pulse, she’s there, we checked.”

“The only reason for that is that her hardware kept her heart beating and the blood pumping. Even if I were to pulse her back to us she’d be a vegetable. And the hearts on its way out, she’d have been mechanically dead in a few hours anyway. I’m sorry.” Anna’s voice quavered.

“Not always,” Kit hissed through clenched teeth, his eyes locked on Anna. He gave a rigid shake of his head. “They don’t always come back like that. Replicate the heart and bring her _back_. I know you have the tech, make her a new one and get her _BACK_!” Tears were freely coursing down his narrow face now, his chest heaving. “It’s 50/50, but you can _do_ it Anna, _please_.” Then, in a very tiny voice that made him seem years younger: “it isn’t _fair_.”

Adam looked between the two humans. They know each other quite well, he thought suddenly. A heavy pall had fallen over the room; they were talking about something without saying anything at all, the way humans did when they shared a history. Cortana caught his eye, her faced fixed in something like horror on Anna’s face.

Anna held Kit’s gaze, and if she was conflicted her face did not show it. Finally she dropped her eyes, looking out the window over the balcony, and the city. At Nerium Tower.

“It’s not something I’m willing to risk, Kit. I’m sorry.” She said quietly, her voice thick with regret, but also resolution.

Kit didn’t move for a second, his whole body tense. Then with a fury Adam could almost recognize from his own past the boy kicked the table in the middle of the room, sending books and papers flying. He began screaming in a language that sounded close to Russian, gesticulating wildly, his eyes wide a red from tears. HE advanced on Anna, tears flying from his face. Instinctively Adam tried to step between the younger man and Anna, but the doctor appeared unmoved by the outburst and placed a firm hand on his arm before he could reach the boy. Kit raged for several minutes before kicking the table one last time and storming out. His voice carried down the hallway, broken by sobs, and then was gone.

Anna looked after him, her face unreadable for a moment. Then her hand flew to her right shoulder, gripping it tighter than Kit had a few minutes earlier. She leaned against the frosted-glass door of the clinic as though exhausted, pursing her lips and squeezing her eyes shut tight, and knocked her forehead against the wall.

“Stupid, stupid…” She said under her breath. Cortana sidled up to her, her holographic hands raised as though to comfort her.

“Can’t save them all, Chief,” the AI said hollowly.

“No, I cannot.” Anna agreed, the sharpness in her voice belying how little she liked that fact. Turning abruptly she stalked back over to the operating table, black fingerprints smudged over her shoulder. She reached back into the cavity she had cut into the woman’s chest. There was a loud click and the woman’s body stopped. There was no long drawn out breath, no shuddering as she passed. Her body simply switched off. Anna had been right; this woman had died hours ago.

Adam watched Anna rip the bloodied and brackish gloves from her hands with a mixture of confusion and pity. He suddenly understood Cortana’s words from earlier than evening: knowing what was hurting but not why it hurt. His benefactor had brought him back from the brink of death, he would have done much to erase the look of failure and hurt from her face. But he was about as capable of comforting her as he was of flying.

A few chirps and a whirring sound drew his attention away from Anna’s face for a moment. The table where the dead woman lay was growing a flexible appendage. It spread itself like a bat’s wing over the body, fusing to the edges of the table with a smell of burning plastic. Anna tapped out an order on one of the few remaining holo-screens, then leaning against the table with both hands, her face weary.

“For what you must have suffered, I’m sorry.” She whispered speaking, Adam realized, to the dead woman. He took a step back from the lab, feeling as though he was intruding on a private moment. Cortana appeared next to him, biting her lip.

“Cortana, do you mind sending her down to the incinerator? I don’t…I don’t think I…” Anna trailed off waving her had through the air uselessly.

“Of course Chief.” Cortana said at once, her voice low. The AI vanished, and with a series of clicks and a whooshing sound the table-cum-body bag on which Anna was leaning levitated off of its base, travelling out of the lab and through the door Kit had left open when he had disappeared in a rage.

Neither Anna nor Adam spoke for a long time. Anna remained standing in the lab, a hand pressed to her face. Adam stood as he had been, watching Anna warily but not without compassion.

“I’m sorry.” He finally ventured into the silence. Anna sighed ruefully.

“For what?” She asked him, her face wry. “For the death of a woman you didn’t know? Or for the failure of a woman you sort-of know to save her?”

“Both.” He said uncomfortably. Her question was not incorrect; he had no reason for concern on either count. But his heart felt heavy nonetheless.

Anna shrugged.

“It happens.” She said dismissively, her face and voice telling a different story. She seemed to realize this and gave him a small smile. “Its jarring when it does though, isn’t it?”

Adam nodded, shifting the kali he was still holding, their weight familiar and real. Something to hang onto. Anna cast a curious glance at his weapons as though noticing that he carried them for the first time. She raised her eyebrow but did not comment. Adam suddenly flushed.

“Cortana startled me,” He fumbled by way of explanation. “I didn’t mean to… I mean… I suppose I should have stayed in the room.”

“No, its good that you didn’t.” Anna replied with a dismissive wave of her hand. The professionalism of her trade had fallen off, but so had the majority of the mourning that had overtaken her a few moments before. Adam felt equal parts relief and dismay at this: relief that she would not be prone to outbursts of emotion, maybe tears that Adam would be unable to console, dismay that she could move past the death with such ease. A hazard of her trade perhaps, or of the times. No… it must be the trade. Terra had been the same way. He shrugged the thought off, a question rising to his mind as he tumbled her words in his head.

“Why did you want me to see this?” he asked.

“To judge your reaction to biotech.” She responded crisply. “To see if you were…afraid of it. Or hated it.”

Adam shrugged, inwardly surprised. Of all things he hadn’t expected her to say this. She might have asked him if he was afraid of science. Or lightning. He understood the stigma; it was ‘unnatural’, biotechnology. As if he was one to judge on the natural and unnatural! His life had begun unnaturally, he fought demons, and communed with gargoyles. The so-called unnatural didn’t phase him. He was keenly aware of her watching his face, waiting for his answer.

“Its wooden legs and respirators.” He said, fascinated. At her nonplussed expression he elaborated. “Its just another way for hum-…people, to extend lives that would have otherwise ended.”

If she noticed his slip she didn’t show it. He shrugged once more.

“It doesn’t bother me.” He said flatly, hoping she would stop looking at him as though she was taking him apart piece by piece. “Why does it matter?”

She held him in her steel gaze for a moment longer, her jaw working as she considered him, weighed and measured his words. Finally, she spoke.

“Because I get a decent amount of illegal patients like her. I treat them because no one else will. Biomechanical failure. Attacks like this one. With my medical skill and what I learned from…from my father about robotics, I can fix them.” She fixed him with an almost accusing glare. “I need to know you won’t go outing anybody, my patients or myself.”

Adam was taken aback.

“I wouldn’t. Never.” He insisted instantly, not so much insulted, but dismayed she would have thought him capable of such a thing. “You saved my _life_. It would be wrong, _ungrateful_ …no I couldn’t, _wouldn’t_ ,” He shook his head, coming into the lab to stand in front of her. “No, Anna, your secret is safe with me.”

She stared at him for a full minute, and he held himself still for her to consider. It was a huge risk she was taking, and he of all people understood the need for discretion. Finally an almost shy smile crept over her face and she looked away from him, a russet blush coloring her cheeks. Adam was suddenly aware of their proximity and he stepped back, looking anywhere but at her. He hadn’t meant to come that close and he cursed himself; he did not want to make her uncomfortable.

“Well…” she coughed, “That solves that then.”

Adam looked back at her, confused.

“Solves what?” He demanded, nervousness creeping into his voice. The blush was still high on her cheeks, and he was surprised how it changed her face from tired and overdrawn to awake and alive. He focused on her eyes instead.

“Yesterday you mentioned wanting to pay me back. I think I might have a way, if you’re still interested.” She said, amused.

Immediately Adam was riveted.

“Yes, of course. How?” He said rapidly, trying to contain his excitement.

“Follow me.”

 

She led him to the back stairwell, but instead of going down to the showers, she led him up, taking a key from around her neck and slipping it into the lock of the large bulkhead where the stairs ended two flights above. It creaked on its hinges as she pulled it open and Adam was quick to move to help her as she strained, for once not feeling awkward about it.

They stepped out onto the roof of the building with the dim glow of sunrise just beginning to color the eastern sky. The smog and dust blown from the dead lands tinged it a greyish-red, but the sun still rose after four hundred years like it always had. There were no smog-shields up here, and Adam wrinkled his nose at the stale smoky taste of the air. In the dim light, Anna led him to a flat, open space. To his surprise it was dotted with plants, thriving in the CO2 heavy atmosphere.

Anna crossed her arms over her chest, once again carefully watching his face.

“So this is it.” She gestured to the raised boxes. “Take a look.”

Truly engaged, Adam walked among the boxes, recognizing plants he hadn’t seen growing in decades. Herbs and medicinal plants. Vegetables. _Tea_. The soil was deep black and rich. How had she managed to get so _much_ of it?

He picked a rosemary leaf and rolled it between his fingers, bringing his hand to his nose and inhaling the pungent fragrance. A small smile stole across his face that he banished before turning back to her.

“A garden?” he asked incredulously. “You want me to take care of your garden?”

“Not exactly.” She laughed. “I’ve had plans for some time for a greenhouse, one that will protect it from the sandstorms. Filter out the bad stuff and keep the wind from tearing anything up.” She joined him next to the modest rosemary bush. “I’ve had to replant most of it every year after sandstorm season. A few things I can keep inside, but I don’t have the room or honestly the skill to keep them alive inside. I’ve bartered and salvaged most of the supplies I’d need to get it built but between the clinic and nighttime adventures like tonight…”

“No time.” Adam finished for her.

“Exactly.” Anna nodded. An uncertain look crossed her face. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I know it’s probably not what you had in mind…”

“I can do it.” Adam stopped her quickly, and then recanted. “I… I couldn’t finish this in a day though. It would take weeks.”

Anna gave him a funny look.

“I knew _that_ , I wasn’t expecting you to get it done immediately. Geez.” She ran her fingers through the strands of hair that had escaped her braid. “Look, what were you doing in Nerium city before you came to me?”

The question struck him as strange and Adam was instantly on his guard.

“Why?” He asked, his voice clipped. Anna didn’t seem to notice the warning signs and went on.

“Because if you had plans to stay in the city _anyway_ , you might as well build my greenhouse to pay me back, if you insist on doing that, and stay somewhere that has power and clean water and heat. And a _bed_.”

Adam was beginning to understand where she was going with this. It must have shown on his face, because Anna crossed the garden to the railing that surrounded the expanse of the roof, beckoning him to her. A ladder stretched down to a fire escape that spanned the entire height of the building. She nodded over the edge.

“There’s a spare room on the floor above mine. A couple actually, but the one I’m thinking of has access to the intact fire escape. Whatever you were planning on doing here, you could use the room, come and go as you please, whatever you like. Just as long as you build me my greenhouse, you can stay here.”

Adam surveyed the garden. In the receding gloom Nerium Tower glowed like a blue lamp. He suddenly wanted very much to stay as he looked out over the crumbling city that would be his other lodging option if he refused her offer. His mind began to work out the details; he could work half the day on the greenhouse, half the night he could hunt demons and investigate the tower. And sleep in a real bed. The thought was so ideal he mistrusted it almost immediately. The weight of his self-imposed quest pressed down on him and in his mind’s eye he saw demons flooding Anna’s flat, Anna dead or worse.

“Anna…” He began, swallowing. His throat had suddenly gone dry. “I…it’s not safe for me to stay. I came to Nerium… I came to find information, dangerous information. I’d rather no one, rather _you_ weren’t involved. “

To his surprise, Anna laughed.

“I’m not _involved_. I’m just giving you a place to crash. And did you forget Cortana? I own this building top to bottom, from the security system to the I-beams. No one can get in here without me knowing. And there are other, less visible defenses. In any case, I’m not afraid.” She flashed him a confident smile.

It unnerved him, that smile. Again the desire to give in and stay reared its head, again he stamped it down. Throwing caution to the wind he faced her with defiance.

“You could be killed. You’re only human, and what I’m dealing in _will_ kill you.” He gripped her arm. “Your life, _human_ lives are too precious to sacrifice to that.”

Adam had not always felt so. Terra had changed that. The fight with Naberius had changed that. Now, looking at the woman who could have shot him the instant she saw him but who chose to heal him instead, the sentiment rang truer than ever and his heart ached to watch Anna’s face change as she processed what he’d said.

He expected her to ask the questions now. He had lain it open for her to ask, was ready to tell albeit not as he would have liked to tell her. If he had to tell her now, it would be to frighten her away from him, to set her at a distance. She was already too trusting, too comfortable. He ached to tell her his story any other way but this, but the ache to protect her, his benefactor, was even greater. So he waited for the questions, waited for the stroke of doom that would send him on his way, alone again.

Instead Anna fixed him with her piercing grey eyes.

“Well…you would know about …human lives versus immortality.” She said softly. He met her gaze with an equally intense look, the gravity of what she’d admitted resting comfortably on his shoulders.

“I would.” He said definitely. The knowledge they both shared floated between them, as tangible as if it was lain out on paper between them. She didn’t press him; it was a simple acknowledgement of fact, her simply telling him she’d seen part of his hand, and he accepted it as such. The balance of power, as it were, was even. He knew one of her secrets, she knew one of his. The thought should have unnerved and threatened him. It did the opposite; he felt instead a strange relief. Not enough to continue that line of talk without provocation, but relief nonetheless.

“I don’t tell other people’s stories for them, Adam.” Anna said, breaking the silence. “If you want to stay, stay. If not, go.”

“It isn’t that simple.” He insisted, feeling trapped between the warring choices in his head.

“It never is. Stay a while and tell me why.” It was a challenge and they both knew it. Adam felt a begrudging respect for the small woman in front of him; she was looking the monster in the face, _again_ , and she wasn’t backing down. He had offered to show her his claws, his teeth and she still stood, resolved as ever. A hard knot of curiosity wound itself around Adam’s heart as he looked at her unchanging face and he knew he was undone. He would stay, if only to undo that knot.

They stared each other down on the rooftop before Anna freed herself from his grip. She said nothing of the challenge she had issued, but by the smile she quickly hid by turning her back to him she knew that she had won this round.

“Breakfast will be ready in five.” She called back to him as though nothing had happened, as though she hadn’t just stepped into the wolf’s den knowingly, willingly.

Adam watched her disappear into the gloom of the stairwell, wrestling with himself.

“Damnit.” He cursed to the plants before following her inside, slamming the door behind him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you thank you thank you for your readership my friends! Things are beginning to move and shake, and I'm so happy ya'll are ready for more
> 
> Enjoy!

“I can’t stay here long!” Adam yelled over the railing of the staircase. Anna looked up at him from the floor below, her eyes dancing.

“Work fast,” She shrugged, opening the door to her flat and dashing inside before he had a chance to retort. He growled and pounded a fist halfheartedly against the rail.

He had decided to stay, but he wasn’t going to accept it without making sure she knew just how much he wanted to leave.

Or at least how much he pretended he wanted to. Inwardly, he was delighted for the excuse Anna had provided for him to stay. Even the Gargoyle Order wouldn’t bat an eye at him repaying her, no matter if it derailed his quest momentarily. After four hundred years chasing down demons, not even Leonore could deny he was due at least some small selfish comfort. Namely a bed and hot food. Once his chore was done he would be on the move again. It was that simple, he told himself. Simple.

He reasserted his customary scowl and stalked back into her flat just as his stomach began to complain. The smell of coffee practically slapped him in the face and any lingering doubts about remaining in the building vanished.

Anna barely glanced at him as she retreated from the chest freezer that stood in place of a refrigerator in her sparse kitchen, a packet of frozen _something_ in her hand. Adam watched her awkwardly before seating himself on one of the barstools. From the corner of his eye he saw Cortana flicker into view.

“I’ve been…advised not to eat anything you cook.” He said more gruffly than he meant to, attempting to make conversation and failing. Cortana snorted and Anna simply shrugged.

“Good advice.” Anna agreed. “Though I don’t know how much I enjoy you two talking about me behind my back. I thought _some_ body knew the rules of this house.”

She shot a pointed look at the holographic woman hovering at the edge of Adam’s vision. He resisted the urge to flash Cortana a malicious smile as she made an indignant sound.

“Relax, Cort, I’m only half serious.” She winked at the hologram, who crossed her arms and continued to glare in silence.

“Adam is going to stay and build the greenhouse, Cort. _And_ ,” She went on, effectively shutting down whatever the AI had been preparing to say. “I don’t want to argue about it. He’s staying and you’re going to behave.”

“Not in…not _here_?” Cortana asked in a horrified voice. Adam bit the inside of his cheek to keep the smile that was threatening to break across his face at bay. Anna tossed her hair.

“Upstairs. In the spare room on the fire escape side. You can lock my windows if you’re that certain he’s a serial killer out for blood. And I expect both of you to stop gossiping about me immediately.”

Adam could not resist looking up and meeting Cortana’s furious gaze with a very small but defiant smile. The AI seethed silently as Anna returned her focus to the packet she had rescued from the freezer, which turned out to be misshapen flat cakes. She separated them out on a metal sheet and fed it into the oven. When she caught Adam watching her she held one up for his inspection.

“Traded, not homemade.” She said, affecting a dopey voice.

“Small favors,” Adam shot back almost instantly. Anna frowned, but her eyes sparkled with mirth. It was that weird fraternal sense growing between them again and Adam shrank back from the feeling. From Ophir or Kaziah he could accept it; lord knew how long he’d put up with them. But Anna was human, and that was a world of difference.

Not noticing his uneasiness Anna plunked a plate of newly-warmed cakes in front of him and slid the jar of honey she had recently acquired within his reach. He stared at it like it was a live bomb.

“I don’t need that.” He said loudly, surprising her. “Please, I know what that’s worth, it’s too valuable. I can eat them plain.”

Anna stared at him.

“Don’t be a dope.” Ann replied, “Eat what you want. I mean save me some, but have at it. When was the last time you had honey?” She asked with a smug look.

“Ages.” Adam reluctantly agreed. He didn’t move towards the jar. Anna groaned, exasperated, before opening the jar with a flick of her wrist and spooning a generous dollop over the top of his food before he could protest. She held up a hand.

“If you’re not putting food in your mouth, shut it. Just… eat.”

She left him to gather her own food onto her plate, and at the insistence of his empty stomach Adam gave in and began timidly cutting into his food. After the first bite he was shoveling it into his mouth unashamedly, not even taking notice of Anna.          In the quiet Cortana suddenly chirped a warning.

“Hey, Chief, ah… Kennedy is coming up.”

Anna whirled around with a gasp, her eyes wide and bouncing between the front door of the flat to Adam and back. Adam stiffened, unsure what the threat was, but instantly on his guard nonetheless. Cortana strode languidly to Anna’s side.

“Think your houseguest is such a good idea now?” The AI intoned smugly. The glare Anna shot her would have shattered glass and Adam was profoundly glad it wasn’t turned on him. He saw a very familiar look of defiance cross Anna’s face.

“He is _staying_ , Cortana. Get over it.” The doctor hissed through her teeth, but her eyes were worried. She gripped her shoulder, kneading it under her hand. Adam made as if to rise.

“I can go back to my room if…” He began, already gathering his plate.

“No, Adam, its….” Anna paused, anxiety written on every corner of her face. “It’s better if she sees you now. It’ll be worse if… Just sit.” She picked up her plate and two mugs of coffee, one of which she set down in front of Adam, before choosing a seat on the end of the table, her back facing the door of the flat.

“Are you suuuure Chief?” Cortana asked, her voice full of I-told-you-so. “You know how…sensitive Kennedy gets.”

Something instinctual caused Adam’s hackles to rise at her mockery and he glared at the AI, wishing he had the guts or the right to tell her off.

“It will be fine, Cort. Just… everybody relax and don’t make any quick moves. Adam,” She fixed him with an open look that rooted him to the spot; she was honestly and openly scared.

“Adam, be very still and don’t talk unless I ask you something. Kennedy, she’s… Well she spooks easy.”

“I should go.” Adam said immediately. He was terrifying, quiet or otherwise and he knew it.

“To late, she’s here.” Cortana sang out over them. He was going to break that hologram’s projector, damnit.

Anna grabbed the sleeve of his tshirt and pulled him back into his seat.

“Please Adam!” She begged and Adam looked at her in disbelief. Anna had been bold with him, almost forceful up until now. To see her _begging…_ He didn’t like it. Still staring at her he allowed himself to be pulled back down to his seat. She gave him a grateful look as the door creaked open behind her.

Something beeped and whistled quietly from some unknown corner of the echoing flat, and all at once Anna’s anxiety vanished as quickly as if it had been a coat she could toss aside when it grew warm. Her entire posture relaxed and she threw an easy, almost casual smile over her shoulder.

“Hey Kennedy,” She said evenly. Adam looked up into the wide brown eyes of a ten-year-old girl. She stood rigidly in the doorway, looking between himself and Anna like a frightened animal. He could see her shaking; she was going to bolt, and Anna knew it.

“Kennedy, this is Adam. He was sick and he came to get help. He got attacked just like…” Her eyes flicked to Adam’s face before looking back and the girl. “Just like you did.” She said softly. Adam raised his eyebrows in surprise, looking at the girl with new respect.

She was a scrawny child, par for the course outside of citadel city, with a mass of curls that looked entirely untamable tangled over the top of her brow and hanging in lank swaths around her ears. She wore dirty clothes and was barefoot, her legs bearing any number of small bruises and scratches. Kennedy kept her eyes trained on Adam’s face, remaining at the far side of the room, but she had stopped shaking. Adam heard Anna release a breath. Slowly her hand curled over the top of his and his heart skipped a beat.

“Adam, show her your stitches. Please.” Anna asked him very low, her eyes wide and conspiratorial. Confusion drew his brows together questioningly but Adam did as she asked, pulling aside the collar of his shirt so the girl could see his stitches, the cotton bandage long since discarded.

“See? I had to stitch him up too.” Anna said, her smile wavering. Adam looked closely between the two; they didn’t look similar, but he wondering if they were related. Anna was very invested in making sure the girl wasn’t afraid. She didn’t _look_ old enough to have a daughter, but that didn’t indicate much as far as humans went. He released his shirt and turned, very slowly, back to the table and resumed eating, albeit at a modified pace than before.

“I’m glad to see you, Kennedy,” Anna said softly in the quiet. “I’d like you to stay, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to.” She sounded so wistful and sad, Adam’s heart momentarily went out to her, surprised by a compassion he had though long since too tired to resurrect. He resisted the temptation to look at Kennedy again, to try and encourage her forward. He would only frighten her, he decided, and instead focused on taking very slow, even bites of his food.

Anna turned back to the table, her face tight and worried. She picked at her plate, even forced a few bites into her mouth, but it looked as though she didn’t even taste it.

Kennedy meanwhile remained in the doorway for several minutes, watching them. Finally, with one very cautious step followed by a braver one and still braver she strode into the flat. She kept her back away from them at all times, taking the widest ark possible into the lab, clambering up onto the table which had been returned to its place in the middle of the room. Once up she crossed her ankles and waited.

Anna bit her lip against the relieved smile that broke out over her face. When she turned, Kennedy pulled down her lower lip with her fingers, exposing her gums in a skeletal smile. There was something black wound through her gums and bottom lip.

“You ready for me to take those stitches out?” Anna asked, her voice laced with a mixture of relief and amazement. Kennedy nodded. The doctor turned back to Adam, her eyes saying everything she couldn’t vocalize. Adam nodded at her, accepting her wordless thanks he didn’t really think he deserved.

Anna slid artlessly from her stool and joined Kennedy in the clinic.

“Alright, kiddo. You wanna see in the mirror while I get those out?”

Kennedy nodded enthusiastically, but did not smile. Adam watched Anna gather her supplies and hop up on the table behind Kennedy, handing her a small mirror.

“Ok, stay still, don’t jerk around while the scissors are in your mouth or I’ll have to put _more_ stitches in.” 

Anna passed her arms around Kennedy’s slim shoulders, flicking her eyes between the view in the mirror and the lip Kennedy held out for her.

“Ready? Alright, here we go.”

Anna chatted as she worked, more talkative than Adam had seen her in the few days that he’d been in her flat. Totally at ease now, she joked and ribbed the little girl in front of her like they were old friends.

‘She loves her.’ Adam thought to himself. He was too old to ponder what it would have been like to have a mother, a real father, a lover, but whatever in him that still clung to humanity caused an almost wistful feeling to curl itself around his chest cavity, almost aching as it floated there. Instead of a frown, the feeling brought a smile to his face and he turned back to his food, allowing them to have privacy.

And nearly choked.

Cortana had flickered into the chair next to him, out of his line of sight until he turned, startling him. It was only years of training and dealing with demons that kept Adam from screaming. He jumped and bit his tongue, however, and turned a truly murderous gaze on the AI, who was giving him her best snarl.

“I don’t like you.” She hissed, too quietly for Anna to hear. Adam reclaimed his fork and stabbed a pancake.

“ _So_ sorry that didn’t work out how you wanted.” He growled as unobtrusively as he could manage.  Cortana rolled her eyes and disappeared. Feeling triumphant, Adam attacked his breakfast with renewed vigor, pausing only when Kennedy popped up next to him. She perched on the chair that Anna had vacated and began devouring the pancakes that had been abandoned.

“Staying for breakfast, are we?” Anna queried, crossing back into the kitchen. Kennedy nodded and reached for the cup of coffee near her plate.

“Oh no.” Anna declared, placing her hand on top of the cup. “Not on your life, kid.”

The two stared each other down, Kennedy with a truly mischievous smile. Finally she released the cup, sticking her tongue out at Anna. Anna returned the gesture and reclaimed the cup. She staked out new territory on the other side of Adam and made herself a new plate, rejoining the odd breakfast party.

Kennedy stole furtive glances at Adam as she ate, making him more than a little uncomfortable and he found himself trapped, unable to edge away for fear of running into Anna. His pride kept him in the chair, unwilling to give her, or Cortana, the satisfaction of knowing the little girl unsettled him.

“Did it hurt?” Kennedy suddenly said. Next to him Anna’s head snapped up, her mouth open in shock; she’d obviously not expected the girl to speak. Kennedy wasn’t looking at Anna, however. Adam cautiously met the child’s eyes, seeing little more than frank curiosity in them and felt himself grow the tiniest bit bolder.

“Did what hurt?” He whispered, hoping the growl in his voice didn’t sound as bad as he thought it did.

“Your stitches. Did it hurt?” Kennedy repeated, jabbing a finger at Adam’s shoulder. Absurdly, Adam felt his pride reassert itself and he shrugged.

“No.” He lied. It had hurt like hell.

“Oh.” Kennedy said, looking at her plate and considering this before looking up again. “Mine didn’t either.” Anna made a small sound to Adam’s right, which he ignored pointedly.

“Did you cry?” Kennedy piped up again. Adam’s eyes narrowed defensively.

“No.”

“Oh. Me neither.”

“Oh you _both_ are the biggest liars!” Anna exclaimed. “You both bawled like _babies_.”

Kennedy giggled, a fluttery, hiccupping sound, while Adam turned what he hoped was a fiercely annoyed look on Anna. Anna responded with a challenging, almost playful smile and he struggled not to meet it in kind. It was getting otherworldly, how easily she drew emotion out of him.

“He’s got lines.”

The comment brought Adam crashing back to earth. He knew exactly what the girl was talking about, but Anna seemed at a loss. She blinked in confusion, closing and opening her mouth as she tried to find the words to respond to the girl’s odd statement.

“Lines,” Kennedy repeated, drawing out the word as though it were obvious. She drew a zig-zagging pattern across her face with one of her fingers and realization dawned on the the smaller of the two adults.

“ _Scars_ , Kenn. You know the word, use it. He’s got scars.” Anna returned. “Lots of people do.”

Kennedy turned her face slowly from Adam.

“You’ve got lines.” She said colorlessly.

Anna snatched her right hand away from where it had rested at the bottom of her coffee cup, almost knocking the glass over. The motion was so unexpected, so violent that Adam could not stop himself from following it, watching as she clutched the hand to her stomach as though he would grab it and take it from her. Immediately Anna closed her eyes and clenched her jaw, a pained expression washing over her face. After a moment her hand relaxed and she reopened her eyes, looking pointedly away from Adam.

“Yeah, Kenn, I’ve got lines,” She murmured. The air became thick, and in spite of himself Adam felt his shoulders tense. Whether out of stubbornness or pride Anna remained seated where she was, but she didn’t touch her food again, nor did she look at Adam. A creeping sense of familiarity stole over Adam as he watched her out of the corner of his eye, again the warring side of him rising and commencing their dance. Ask or remain silent. Hear her story and tell his own or keep the walls up. It was reaching a clamor in his head, and desperate to break the silence he coughed roughly.

“You said you had plans.” He prompted. When Anna looked up at him warily he pointed lazily at the ceiling.

“The greenhouse?”

“Oh. _Oh_. Yes.” Brushing aside her momentary discomfort Anna began making tapping motions in the air, bring up several holo-screens which she passed in front of Adam.

“The um… well, its simple. The tech, the water systems and filtration, I can handle but I can’t do anything until the structure is actually _built_ , ya know?”

Adam nodded as she talked, pointing out the allowances she had made for the wind, the joints in the frame that would allow for movement but not breakage. Secretly, he was relieved. It was a simple structure, and luckily when it came to tools he was good with his hands.

And once the sun had set, he was going hunting. The thought filled him with a sinister glee and he had to force himself to pay attention to what Anna was saying, his palms itching for his kali, itching for the fight.

“Uh…bye Kennedy.” Anna’s voice brought him out of his reverie. He looked for the girl, but didn’t find her at the table. Instead she was standing in the doorway once again, a lopsided smile on her face and her hands on the door.

She giggled once and swung the door shut with a clang.

“And that’s Kennedy.” Anna said. “She’s ah… tight-lipped.”

“Where is she going?” Adam wanted to know. Anna shrugged.

“Who knows? he has a nest somewhere in some cubbyhole in the city. She won’t tell me where. It’s very small so no one else can get inside, so she likes it better than here.”

“She can’t be more than ten, you let her live on the street?” He asked incredulously.

“She likes it that way. Believe me, I’ve offered. No, there are too many people that come and go here. It would just make her uncomfortable.” She eyed him carefully. “I cannot _believe_ she spoke to you.”    

Adam blinked, unsure how to politely ask his next question so he simply blurted it out.

“Is she…yours?” He asked hesitantly.

Anna chuckled darkly, a kind of bleak irony in her eyes.

“Nah, not mine. I just found her. You wouldn’t know it though, she kind of adopted me.”

“ _She_ adopted _you_.”

“Yes, after she… after she got attacked.” Anna’s expression clouded. Adam waited expectantly for the rest of the story, but Anna shook her head with an apologetic smile.

“It’s not my story to tell, Adam. She hasn’t even told _me_ everything that happened. I’ve guessed most of it from when I treated her, it was pretty obvious from her injuries, but I’m not going to go telling everyone what I think I know. One day, maybe she’ll trust me enough to tell me.” She quirked an eyebrow at him. “Just like somebody else I could mention.”

For a moment Adam felt a familiar rush of dread at being put under a microscope. But a response formed in his mind, rising like a brick wall around his past.

“Just like someone _I_ could mention.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “With _lines_.” He said, not able to resist the jab.

Anna’s eyes went wide with surprise at his nerve and then narrowed in anger, her hand clenching unconsciously. As quickly as it had come, the mood was banished and she broke into a begrudging smile. Adam nodded to himself; he had expected she’d be sharp enough to catch what he meant. Quid pro quo. Don’t ask if you aren’t willing to tell in return. Deep, deep within himself in the parts of him that still reached for the comfort of humanity, for friendship, he hoped she’d rise to the challenge.

Anna gave a nervous laugh, looking away from him, and he suppressed his disappointment.

“Well, you said it’d be a few weeks. Who knows what’ll happen in that time?”

Adam didn’t respond, preferring for his agreement to go unsaid, promising nothing. Anna rolled her eyes.

“Come on. I’ll show you where the tools are if you’re done. Cort?” She peered around Adam into the lab where Cortana glimmered into existence, leaning on the table. “Shut down the clinic for today, ok? I’m not... up for it.” She suddenly looked very tired as she passed a hand over her eyes. The pink scars on her hand flashed in the light streaming from the balcony and for a moment she looked a great deal younger than she was.

Then she turned back to Adam with a shake of her head and the illusion was gone.

“You coming?” She asked.

Wordlessly he rose and followed her back to the balcony.

‘Its just payback.’ He told himself. ‘That’s all it is.’


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay my friends! I started a new job which is awesome for everything except writing :) Hopefully now that my schedule has normalized I'll have the next few chapters up for you without much delay.
> 
> As always, enjoy!

The hunting in Nerium city was good. Whatever strength might have waned when he was sick, Adam was gaining it back in spades as he hunted the city for every demon he could get his hands on. He stood perched on the rooftop of a ramshackle warehouse gazing over the city, wishing not for the first time that the air he gulped after the chase wasn’t so smoky.

The nests were huge; demons in every shape, size and iteration grouped together like so many fish in a barrel. All he had to do was leap into the middle of them and hell would break loose, showers of ash and fire exploding as his kali flew, wrecking a vengeance that never failed to ignite the most primal parts of him. The anger that dulled by day, the complacency of pretending to be human. In the midst of the fight, he was once again the monster.

And he loved every minute of it.

Adam looked upward as the moon dipped low in the sky and brushed one of the buildings, its silver glow reduced to a hazy red as it shone down through the smog and filth the war had left in the air. It was nearing four in the morning, not normally a time he’d call its quits, especially not on a night that had yielded such good results. Usually he had to drag himself away when the sun was already well on its way to risen. But the scratches on his leg made him think of rest and (although he would not admit the word to himself), home. His brush with death from the infection of the last cut he received had forever altered how he approached injuries. His younger self would have called him a coward, he mused. His current self just called him alive. He would be damned if what took him out was another tiny cut.

Casually he made his way across the city, not bothering to keep to the shadows. There was no need in Nerium; no one was watching save the automated city sweepers that occasionally crossed him path. Let them come if they dared, it was good practice. The kali rested easy in his hands, extensions of his own arms as he stalked the streets of what he was quickly beginning to think of as ‘his’ city. He certainly was the only one opposing the demons…

That thought irked him. He wasn’t terribly distressed to not have his every step dogged by the Order after giving his gargoyle watchers the slip. But the demon infestation was huge, almost larger than it had been around the Wessex Institute, and so far in the weeks since he’d truly began to hunt he had seen hide nor hair of the Gargoyle Order. In a demon mass this big he had expected a patrol at the least. Perhaps Ophir and Kaziah, and a few others brave enough to scout far from their cathedral home. It was strange, and he wrestled with feeling concerned for the Order. For Kaziah. For Ophir.

Adam swung his kali almost idly at a demon that had gotten too crazy-brave and rushed him in the middle of the street, not making it close enough to touch him before he was descended in a hail of smoke. A grim smile settled across Adam’s face and he marched on towards Anna’s flat.

The hunting was _very_ good.

Quietly as he could manage, Adam ascended the fire escape to his room, taking the stairs in twos and threes. The fire escape had truly been a stroke of genius on Anna’s part, though she could not have possibly known how he would use it. For the better part of six weeks it had allowed him to come and go during the night, long after Anna had closed her clinic and bedded down. So far she had no idea of what he did at night, only that he left after sunset and did not come home until dawn. He preferred it that way; the longer he spent in his benefactor’s company the less he found himself wanting to put her in danger.

The window to Adam’s room folded back like an accordion at a touch and he stumbled inside, his stealth momentarily failing as he struggled the injured leg in through the window. Waving a hand over the wall panel brought up the dim lamp next to his bed and he grimaced, examining his injured leg. It was bleeding, not badly, but enough to know he should attend to it and quickly. It needed cleaning. Could he make it down to the showers without waking Anna? Yes, of course he could. It was Cortana he had to worry about. She delighted in sounding an alarm and startling him half out of his wits anytime he slunk down into the main flat on his way to the bathroom in the middle of the night, even on the nights he didn’t hunt. The only satisfaction he gained from that was watching Anna scream at the recalcitrant AI, threatening everything from unplugging her to reprogramming her into a toaster. Still, he disliked that Anna might get woken up _again_ (and Kennedy, if the girl had chosen to stay in the flat as the summer edged into its fullness and the air conditioner in Anna’s flat overcame any reservations about ‘too many people’).

Adam shook his head and dropped his kali on the bed before working his sweat-and-ash soaked t-shirt over his head and throwing it into the closet where his coat and hoodie hung. It was far too hot now to wear them while he hunted though he regretted the loss of the extra layer of protection the coat offered. If he had been wearing it, he might no have had to cut his hunt short. He retrieved his old travel-bag from the floor of the closet and rummaged for the ancient first aide kit that had followed him through decades of demon hunts.

A knock at the door startled him and for a moment he froze, his senses on high alert.

“Adam?” came Anna’s sleepy voice. “Adam I know you’re in there I can see the light on. Let me in.”

Adam didn’t answer her right away, his scowl deepening. He considered just turning the light off and leaving the way he had come in, not returning until morning. His leg throbbed and with a resigned sigh he dropped the bag and recovered his t-shirt, wrinkling his nose at the sour sweat as he pulled it over his head. He crossed the room and tapped the wall panel that unlocked the door, glaring down at the brown face of his benefactor.

“Its four in the morning, why are you awake?” He accused with a growl. Anna rolled her eyes at his posturing.

“Cortana scanned you as you came up. She said you were injured.” She yawned and held up a small blue packet that looked similar to his own tattered first aide kit. “I came to offer my services.”

“They aren’t needed.” Adam replied harshly and turned abruptly to walk back into the room, choosing to leave the door open. “I’m fine.”

“You’re bleeding.” Anna retorted matter-of-factly.

“I’m. _Fine_.”

“You’re. _Bleeding_.”

Adam stared at her with a mixture of irritation and amusement.

“Why the hell did she wake you up to treat me?”

Anna pressed her fingertips into her eyes with a low groan.

“Because she enjoys punishing me for letting you stay.” She intoned. “And if you don’t let me look at it she’s not going to let either of us sleep. Would you please let me look at your leg?” Anna peeked between her fingers at him, an exasperated grey stare jabbing him like a spear.

“Alright. Fine.” Adam acquiesced, plopping down on his bed.

She gave him a mock-gracious nod before crossing the room and dropping to her knees in front of him, unzipping the neat kit she had brought with her and pulling on a pair of plastic gloves. Their proximity bothered him very little now; the weeks spent in close contiguity in the flat had relaxed his guard more than he had thought possible. Even Terra had not convinced him to stay in one place for so long. Perhaps it was the blind insistence he had espoused for paying Anna back, or maybe that Anna did not seem as prone to ply him with questions as Terra had, but he had not felt confined, nor uncomfortable in Anna’s presence for several weeks.

Of course the final exam she had given him where he had stood before her in the lab in nothing but his shorts with every hair on his body standing on end and feeling like a trapped animal could have also had something to do with it. Certainly no amount of being near her could compare to that discomfort. He often wondered if Anna was more conniving than he gave her credit for, putting him in the most exposed awkward position possible so that anything else would feel almost normal.

But despite his obvious discomfort Anna had attended to the examination with the same level of detached professionalism as she had when she treated him the first time. She saw only the symptoms, or in his case the lack thereof, and he found himself unexplainably dissatisfied. For the first time in his unnaturally long life Adam wished someone would ask about his scars. Wished _Anna_ would ask, ask and make him tell. No, not make him. If Anna asked him, the whole story would tumble out of his mouth and not stop until he emptied himself of it, handed it to her like a ragged gift. Everything that he was wrapped in a misshapen package.

She did not ask. There were moments when he thought she might, the words sitting so bright and eager behind her teeth he could almost physically see them. But she did not ask, and he thought he knew why. Behind those words jostling for escape were the others that would be the quid pro quo of their unspoken arrangement. The reason for the lines on the back of her hand, under her chin. He thirsted after the answers to those questions with the same fire that had plagued him in his youth, and had shaped his destiny in the war with Naberius.

And yet he still did not ask her, unwilling to bring her into a conflict she had no way of comprehending existed. If she told her story, he would tell his. But he would not put her in that danger if he could avoid it, no matter how the desire to know pounded in his brain. They danced around each other for six weeks, neither wanting to be the first to broach the subject, neither wanting to be the first to admit defeat.

It was a beautiful, horrid tension and rather than wanting to escape it Adam found himself digging in deeper. Procrastinating on the greenhouse. Lingering out far past daybreak on his hunts so that he would waste most of the daylight sleeping instead of building. Spending the hour between the close of the clinic and sunset with her. Hoping she would break, hoping he would have a reason to tell.

“Was this an animal scratch?” Anna startled him from his consideration of her and he drew a sharp breath.

Absorbed as she was in her task, Anna had paused her examination to splay her fingers over the wound, her middle finger resting at the tip of the center scratch and her thumb and little finger just barely touching the other two. Adam had not realized how far up his inner thigh the injury went until she touched him and he shuddered involuntarily, his nerve endings suddenly tingling and alight.  Her touch was too gentle, too delicate…

“Aye, I’m sorry, I should have numbed it first!” Anna apologized and took her hand away, the scarred hand Adam faintly noted through the rush of…whatever had taken him by storm when she touched him. Couldn’t she _see_?

Anna pulled a small syringe from her kit.

“Just a local anesthetic, nothing too intense.” She inserted the needle and Adam grimaced, the heady feeling disappearing as the pinch of the injection took his focus.

“I’ll give that a minute to take effect and then clean it.” Anna explained, sitting back on her heels and casting a suspicious look on him. “Was it an animal attack?”

Adam pressed his lips together in a thin line, locking the explanation away before he lost his better sense and let the words spill out. The doctor groaned, irritated.

“I’m not asking in a ‘get into your business’ kind of way, I don’t need details. What I do need to know is if I need to start you on an antibiotic panel to combat any disease that might have been transmitted from an animal bite. They have gotten worse since the war, you know.” She said, her ever-present impudence prodding him.

‘Jesus…smart woman.’ Adam thought, hoping he betrayed none of the chastisement her felt. Stubborn to the last he shook his head and remained tight-lipped.

“Good. I don’t know if anything I have would penetrate that mulish flesh of yours anyway.” Anna said dryly. He frowned at her, trying to decide if she was joking or not. Her smile was broken by a lazy yawn that she didn’t bother to cover.

“Gee, sorry you had to get woken up so _early_ , Chief.”

Adam rose abruptly from the bed before Anna could speak, wobbling on his quickly numbing leg, and slammed the sliding door shut. Cortana could not actually enter any room besides the main room of Anna’s flat and the lab; neither Anna’s room nor Adams was equipped with the projectors that would give her access. But she could make a verbal nuisance of herself if she chose, which she was content to do at the moment, playing a scratchy recording of “Good Morning” as loudly as she was able. Adam would be damned if she got to look in on Anna treating him ever again. The door lock chirruped into place at his fingertips and he returned to his seat on the bed, a murderous look painted over his face.

“Why do you let her do that?” He growled, his gloved fists clenching and unclenching in his lap.

“You don’t just shoot somebody in the head because they’re annoying. You don’t shut them off if they are either.” Anna said, inclining her head once again to look at his cuts.

Adam bit his tongue against the protestations that rose into his mouth, reminding himself over and over that it was more than likely this particular quirk of Anna’s that had saved his life. Finding the human in the inhuman was not something he was adept at, indeed he’d never had reason to before. It was a learned skill, he’d discovered, and he pondered why Anna had learned it.

“They aren’t deep enough to warrant stitches, so there’s that.” Anna said from the floor. She pressed a small device to his leg and moved it slowly over his injuries one scratch at a time. The machine hummed as it worked, leaving wet patches on his jeans as it cleaned his wounds.

“The cleanser has an antibacterial agent as well as a vasoconstrictor so the blood should stop but you need a bandage on these.” Anna fixed him with a mischievous grin and held up a bundle of bandages.

“If you take your jeans off I can do it for you,” she said coyly. Adam balked, closing his legs and shifting away from her, noticing her wide smile too late to disguise it as something else.

“It was a _joke_ Adam.” She laughed, but a russet blush bloomed on her cheeks that Adam found oddly pleased him, though he could not understand why. Anna rose and dropped the bandages on the bed next to him.

“Come get me if the local wears off and the pain is bad, I’ve got some other stuff I can give you. You should get at least a few hours worth of sleep though without it troubling you.”

“Thank you,” Adam said gruffly, pulling his leg stiffly onto the bed. Anna paused, seeming to want to say something then thinking better of it.

“Try not to make it worse, alright?” She smiled at him, her head cocked to the side. “Stay in bed the rest of the night for me?”

Adam’s throat felt suddenly dry and he nodded, unable to speak.

“Sweet dreams,” Anna laughed. She gathered her kit and left, throwing him one last sleepy smile before closing the door. He stared after her, struggling to even out his breath.

“Well she seems…close.” An amused voice said from the shadows. Instantly Adam rolled from the bed, his heart pounding as he flipped back into fight mode.

‘The demons followed me here,’ his panicked mind screamed as he scooped his kali from the bed. ‘Damnit, they followed me-’

His thoughts were cut short as a figure stepped into the light, its hands raised, a wolfish smile flashing bright white teeth.

“Ophir.” Adam whispered hoarsely, his hands shaking in their iron grip on his kali.

The gargoyle beamed back at him, looking for all the world like he might burst out laughing at any moment.

“Good too see you as well, little brother.” The older man said dryly, his eyes alight. He paced leisurely around the room, completely at ease. Infuriated, Adam lowered his weapons with a shaky breath.

“How long have you been hiding in here?” He growled, praying he hadn’t missed the man since the moment he came home. He would never hear the end of it if he had. Ophir gave him a sly smile.

“Long enough to hear her ask you to take your pants off.”

Heat rose instantly to Adam’s face and he turned away, throwing his kali angrily on the bed. The wounds in his leg had begun bleeding again with all his movement. Adam inwardly groaned, imagining how much they were going to hurt when the medicine wore off.

“I need to bandage my leg so if you’re not here for something serious...” He said sharply, hoping Ophir would take the hint and drop the subject.

“Ah, yes, wouldn’t want to doctor to have to come back up.” Ophir replied clearly enjoying himself. Adam paused, his belt buckle undone in his hands and looked over his shoulder.

“Turn around.”

“Adam. I have seen you _naked_. Remember Barcelona?”

“Turn. Around.”

Ophir laughed quietly but complied. He clasped his hands behind his back and stood by the window. Adam quickly torn his jeans off and unwrapped the bandages Anna had left.

“I was standing here a whole five minutes before you notice me, you know.” Ophir said, not taking his eyes from the window. “She must be quite distracting.”

“Where the hell has the Order _been_?” Adam demanded, desperate to avoid talking about Anna. He slapped adhesive tape across his leg and glared at Ophir’s back.

“I’ve been hunting for six weeks and I haven’t seen a single one of you.”

Ophir sighed.

“We have been…preparing. After you escaped our watch- I am supposed to reprimand you for that, by the way- the Queen ordered we double our efforts in ferreting out information about the Nerium Tower.”

“And?”

“There is definite demonic activity going on within. Besides the massing of demons in every corner of the city the tower itself is populated with high-ranking demons. Lieutenants and captains of the horde are gathering for something much larger than we’ve ever faced before.”

“Are they trying to resurrect their fallen again?”

Ophir shrugged.

“Our efforts have yielded little knowledge in that respect. We have lost five good soldiers in trying to infiltrate the tower for those answers. So far the only thing we know for certain is the demons are focusing on something they call Project Legacy. Beyond that we have no answers.”

“That’s it?” Adam asked, his temporary excitement dying. Ophir glanced back at him with a hopeless gesture.

“We were hoping you could tell us something. After all, you have been here six weeks.”

Adam said nothing, not meeting Ophir’s gaze. He reclaimed his torn jeans from the floor and struggled into them, rising from the bed only to button them.

“I only know bits and pieces. I’ve been…busy.”

The gargoyle did not speak for some time.

“Frankenstein, how long has it been since you accepted the fact that I am your friend?” Ophir asked, his normally jovial face serious.

“Long enough to know if I’m being called Frankenstein I’m going to get a lecture.” Adam replied with a wry smile. Ophir chuckled.

“I must give them so infrequently now, it almost does seem odd. But I am not here to lecture. I am concerned for you though.”

“When are you not?” Adam said, still avoiding Ophir’s eyes.

“Adam, please.” The sharpness in Ophir’s voice caught at Adam’s conscience and he finally met the old man’s eyes.

“You came to me before, after Doctor Wade passed on.” Ophir dropped a respectful nod; his ‘rest in peace’ for Terra. Adam’s heart ached suddenly and he wished Ophir would keep talking and shut up all at once.

“You are not bound to this war in the same way that I and my brother and sisters in the Order are. You are free to walk out of it if you chose, so do not think I am holding you to something you never agreed to. Archangels know it was not your first choice in life and you should not be held to our standards. But… it is not like you to remain in one place so long for something other that hunting demons. I confess myself curious. And concerned. And…I hope that you understand you can trust me.”

Of all the Order, that was true only of Ophir. Adam fought briefly with himself before sitting on the bed in defeat. He pointed at the door, staring at the boards between his feet.

“I…I don’t want her to be involved… Not like Terra was, Ophir. I don’t want… don’t want it to happen again.” Adam ground the words out, pained by memories. When he finally met Ophir’s gaze, his oldest friend smiled back at him encouragingly.

“She saved my life.” Adam began. Ophir turned fully and crossed his arms over his chest, his dark eyes shining as he listened.

“I almost died, Ophir. It was a cut, just a tiny cut. I got so sick, I thought I was going to burn up. I was more terrified than I have ever been in my life, and I must have been a…I must have acted like…” He fought against the word that demanded a voice.

“You are not a monster any longer Adam.” Ophir reminded him softly, reading his mind. Adam nodded, shutting his eyes against the memory of being ill and vulnerable.

“I came to her, thinking she’d throw medicine at me and lock me out and what would happen would happen. She almost shot me when I… She had every right to shoot me. But she took me in and treated me. She fed me by hand when I was too sick to feed myself. I nearly choked her when I first woke up, and instead of killing me she gave me water.”

“And you don’t think she should have?” Ophir interjected.

“I… I don’t know.” Adam confessed. “I suppose I don’t understand why she did.”

“Is it so hard to believe she would help you? There are good humans in the world, Adam.”

“Not for me there aren’t.” Adam murmured. Ophir pressed his lips into a thin line, unable to argue.

“So why have you remained if you think she should have sent you away when you first arrived.” He asked instead.

“To pay her back.”

Ophir raised his eyebrows.

“She demanded payment?” He asked incredulously.

“Refused it. I demanded.” Adam said a little hotly. “The greenhouse on the roof? I’ve built it for her. It was the only way I could repay what she did.”

“It looks completed.” Ophir said, his eyes narrowing.

“It almost is.” Adam said, his voice dropping. Ophir considered him in silence for a moment.

“Why are you stalling, Adam?” He finally asked. Adam shook his head; he should have known Ophir would see through him.

“I don’t know. Ophir, I don’t know. Anna is… I…” Adam trailed off, unable to articulate the way Anna captivated him. How the scars on her hand and face made his whole body hum with curiosity, and the way he wanted to open his story to her in a way he never had to Terra. The strange desire to both pull her close to him and push her as far away as he could manage, being on the verge of leaving and never coming back every night since recovering and never having the heart to do it when the sun rose.

“She reminds you of Doctor Wade?” Ophir ventured softly. Adam shook his head fiercely.

“Terra… Terra looked at me like she wanted to see someone else in my place. She…” He swallowed hard. “Loved me… but she wanted me to be human, or as human as she could make me. I couldn’t be human, Ophir, not even for her. Not after Wessex, when what I was meant something completely different than it had before. Terra could never accept that.”

Ophir nodded, understanding.

“I remember. And…Anna?” He asked gently. Adam did not speak, clasping his hands together tightly, grinding his teeth in the silence.

“Anna… knows.” He finally said, very slowly. “And yet here I am.”

“She knows…everything?” Ophir asked carefully. Adam shook his head, understanding what the gargoyle was asking him.

“She knows enough. _What_ I am, at least, if not the whole story. Not the demons and not the Order. Nothing about my father. She’s a scientist, the only trait she shares with Terra. Anna could have let me die when she read my exam and found I was a living corpse. She didn’t. She wants to know more… but she won’t make me tell. She could. I would tell her if she asked, I’d tell her everything. I want her safe, but I want her to _know_ …”

“Who you are.” Ophir finished for him. Adam nodded, worrying a thumb over the scars on his hands.

“If you insist Anna is not like Terra, then why are you so afraid to tell her? Perhaps, if she can accept what you are, she can accept who you are as well. The demon hunter _and_ the man.”

“The two are the same. They make up the monster. She shouldn’t _have_ to accept me. It would put her in danger. Its worth more that she is safe than I am… accepted.” Adam couldn’t bring himself to say the word ‘loved’, not yet. He fixed Ophir with an accusing look. “I thought you would approve of me thinking of her safety above my own feelings.”

“Yes, but I’m not entirely convinced you’re keeping her out of danger so much as keeping yourself safe from falling in love with another mortal who might willingly walk out of your life long before her own ends.”

Adam was across the room in a heartbeat. He lifted Ophir off his feet by his armor and pushed him roughly against the wall.

“Careful, you’ll wake your friend.” The gargoyle cautioned. Adam ignored him.

“You have no right.” Adam whispered hoarsely. “No right, Ophir. I have always been alone and I have both my father _and_ the Order to thank for that. I found happiness once, _once_. Do not mock me by reminding me of how I failed. I loved Terra-”

“The only way you knew how. I’m not accusing you of anything, little brother.” Seemingly unconcerned by his current state a foot off the ground, Ophir placed his hands on Adam’s shoulders. “Terra’s choices were not her fault. You could no more have given up your quest against the horde than undo what Victor Frankenstein did to make you more than human. Terra wanted you to be something you were not, and in that respect she did not deserve you. You failed no one, Adam. And believe me, I understand what it is to fail at love.”

A pained expression passed quickly over Ophir’s face and then it was gone, his smile firmly back in place. Adam blinked, his rage cooling. Slowly he lowered the gargoyle back to the floor.

“Kaziah.” He said quietly, not quite looking at his friend.

“Kaziah.” Ophir agreed. “Beloved and forbidden to love. Believe me, I understand your need for companionship. I understood it when we first found you, back when you wanted to tear the world apart with your hands because you believed you would never have it.”

“I still won’t” Adam said stubbornly. Ophir shrugged.

“If you insist. But, in this case, consider it might be that way because you make it so. Anna is not Terra and perhaps you owe her the chance to show you that. Perhaps you owe it to yourself.”

Adam stared at the floor and picked at his gloves. His mind was churning with a hundred new possibilities, and he wasn’t quite sure which one to go after. Ophir looked at him sympathetically, clapping him on the shoulder wordlessly.

Suddenly a high scream broke out on the floor below; a shriek of terror that stabbed between Adam’s ribs like a bolt of ice. He met Ophir’s dark eyes, wide now with shock and fear. Panic gripped his heart in iron fingers as growling voices rose in the flat below.

“No.” He gasped out.

There were demons in Anna's flat.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello! I hope you guys haven't been on edge too long.
> 
> If anybody would like to give me feedback, I do have a question: how's the pacing? Is this going too slow for everyone or is it giving you just enough per chapter? Too little? Feel free to private message me!
> 
> Thank you once again for your readership and enjoy!

Ophir had to physically restrain him when the gunshots broke out. Adam bit the hand his friend pressed against his mouth, thrashing wildly in his surge towards the bedroom door and bringing them both down to the floor as he struggled.

“Adam, stop! You’ll put her in danger if you run into the middle of them!” Ophir hissed into his ear. The thought cut the red haze that had swept across Adam’s vision and he forced himself to be still, panting in fury. Below the floor boards he heard someone crying; Kennedy. He squeezed his eyes shut and nodded. Ophir cautiously removed his hand and helped Adam to his feet.

“She’ll try to fight them.” Adam whispered hoarsely, his whole body shaking. “There’s a child, Kennedy, and Anna will fight if she’s in danger. We need to figure out how many there are.”

“And we will, but if they’re in the flat already they’re too close to fight them without risking harm to the doctor. We need to-” Ophir was cut short by the sound of boots on the staircase outside Adam’s room.

“Search everywhere! That overgrown pigeon is in here somewhere!” A guttural voice shouted right outside Adam’s door.

The two men scrambled toward the window just as the door splintered into shards. A strong hand griped Adam’s shoulder and he felt Ophir’s skin change from warm flesh to stone. Not so much thinking as reacting Adam’s hand shot out blindly in the sudden dark outside Anna’s building, by some miracle hooking the fire escape as Ophir pulled them over the edge. For a heart stopping second Adam felt the free fall before catching himself on the highest platform of the escape. He dangled seven stories above the street, his legs kicking wildly as he fought to tighten his grip.

Something snorted above him and his gaze jerked upwards. Through the metal grate of the fire escape he could see a demon peering into the night, casting its horny head this way and that. For a moment Adam feared it would see his fingers curled around the metal. But it pulled its head back inside the flat with a wet sniff and Adam let go of the breath he had been holding. He swung himself onto the stairs below, out of view of the window while from inside his room he heard the demon crashing about, no doubt tearing the room the pieces. Ophir swooped into his vision, clinging to the railing. Unable to speak in his full form, the gargoyle made a sweeping motion with his arm. Adam shook his head.

“I’m not leaving them.” He said. “If you want to help me, get the Order. Hurry, Ophir, I cant wait too long.”

Ophir growled, obviously unhappy, but pumped his wings and shot into the sky, doubtless knowing it was better not to argue.

Adam crept down the fire escape, every creak of the metal making him jump. As he neared the window that looked into Anna’s room, the glass burst outward and Adam slammed his back against the bricks as his heart pounded. Far below the chair that had done the damage broke against the concrete.

“Look here! Look what I found!” the coarse voice crowed from within. From the pounding of feet Adam surmised the demons had left Anna’s room and he quickly stole to the window, peering onto the scene amidst the shattered glass.

The horned demon that ransacked his room had his kali, holding them at arm’s length wrapped in one of Adam’s shirts.

“Blessed objects. Gargoyle was definitely here.” It growled. Adam felt a surge of anger.

‘God damnit Ophir, they followed you here.’ He thought. Gingerly he crawled through the broken window, slinking around the edge of Anna’s darkened room to the door.

Besides the one that held his kali hostage there were seven demons in the main room of the flat. Not the worst odds Adam had ever faced, but the dynamic tonight was vastly different. In the middle of the circle the demon’s made knelt Anna, her hand white-knuckled around the grip of her useless gun. Blood trickled from her nose and Adam seethed inaudibly. She didn’t look afraid, but she did look furious and after a few seconds Adam understood why.

In the grip of the largest demon dangled Kennedy, her face grey, a knife pressed to her throat. A perfectly round hole above the demon’s left eye was smoldering and Adam felt an insensible rush of pride; Anna had hit her mark. Had it been a mortal she face she would have dropped him. But it wasn’t and Adam gazed hopelessly at his weapons, so far out of his reach. He fumbled at the sheath around his ankle and settled the small blessed knife into his hand, thanking God that he hadn’t bothered to remove it when he got home just a few minutes earlier. It wasn’t much, but if he had to move before Ophir arrived, it was all he had.

“Alright, lady.” The smallest of the demons strode towards Anna, his face still in its human guise save for the poisonous green eyes that grinned down at the doctor. “We tracked the gargoyle here. We don’t want you involved in this, something I’m sure your stony friend didn’t think of. You and your little one can walk free if you tell us where he is.”

The demon holding Kennedy shifted his knife and the girl made a small, strangled sob that shot right through Adam. Anna’s jaw clenched but she said nothing. Instead she turned to one of the demons whose true face was out on display.

“Did you know you’ve got a skin condition?” She asked dryly. “I can get you something for that.”

Adam closed his eyes and bit back a groan. There was a solid smack! from the adjacent room and Anna cried out, drawing Adam almost magnetically back to the circle.

Anna was sprawled on the floor, one hand clasped to her face. Blood was pouring freely from her nose now, dripping onto the floor. The green-eyed demon stood over her, looking almost bored.

“Smart mouth, bitch. I don’t like scuffing up my boots, but I’ll kick you as many times as it takes. Unless you’d prefer we start carving up little miss over here.”

The doctor looked up at him murderously and in a blindingly fast move raised her gun and fired. The demon screamed and clutched his leg. The others laughed riotously.

“Spit-shine my dick.” Anna hissed. She must have realized by now it wouldn’t kill them, but a triumphant look crossed her face as she watched the demon moan in obvious pain before rounding on her again, kicking her squarely in the stomach and sent her sprawling.

How many bullets did she have left, Adam wondered. Enough to buy herself time to escape? She’d never leave Kennedy. She’d just keep picking at them, needling them until either they killed her or… what? Would she be able to survive until the Order arrived? She had no idea they were coming, what was she…

Realization dropped on Adam like an avalanche, a slow crumbling thought followed by a tumult of epiphany, and in the quiet that followed the ever-timely voice of Terra was screaming at him.

‘She’s waiting for _you_ , you great idiot!’

Adam blinked and focused on Anna for a moment, shutting out everything else. Her eyes kept darting to the lab, to the balcony. Cortana, her blue light subdued and shadowy flickered next to the window, peering into the darkness, searching.

‘Looking for me.’ He thought. One of the demons was keeping a keen eye on the balcony as well, following Anna’s gaze.

A shadowy scrap of a plan formed in Adam’s head and he steeled himself, stepping back from the door so he was still in the shadows but could see the whole of the main room. He switched his grip on the knife, pinching the blade between his thumb and forefinger and said a short prayer that his aim was better than the last time he’d had to try this.

“Cortana,” he whispered, too low for the demons to hear. The AI’s head jerked and for a moment Adam though she would whirl around and reveal him.  But she managed to control herself, hovering rigidly now with both fists clenched at her sides. Knowing she didn’t need to look at him to see him Adam held up his knife and pointed deliberately at the demon holding Kennedy. Cortana blinked and with the barest movement shook her head, no. Adam suppressed a growl.

“Its what I’m doing, help me or don't.” he whispered fiercely. Cortana turned her head very slowly back into the main room a wide eyed terrified look flashing across her face. Without moving she blinked out, the blue threads that connected her to her projectors shimmering a moment longer. Adam held his breath, putting all his focus on Kennedy and shutting out the maddening sound of Anna struggling with the green eyed demon.

A piercing siren screamed from one of the lab machines as the clinic whirred to life. The demons jumped, growling, every head swiveling towards the sound. Cortana reappeared in the lab, a snarl painted across her holographic face.

In an instant Adam took his aim and sent the knife sailing though the air, stepping into the room only a second behind it. The blade struck the demon in the neck, embedding itself with a satisfying slick sound. The demon choked once before exploding into a cloud of fire. Kennedy shrieked, her hair and flesh singeing as she tumbled into the inferno. Adam caught her as she fell and twisted his body, putting himself between her and the flames while Kennedy lashed out wildly in a panic, fear making her senseless. Before Adam could even open his mouth to calm her she squirmed in his grasp and jabbed of her fingers into his eye with a furious yell.

He gave a yelp of pain and instinctively put his hands to his face. Kennedy wiggled out of his grasp and was gone in a flash. Adam rolled to a stop on the floor as his eye watered and throbbed and an unreasonable anger rose in him.

‘I bet Anna taught her that,’ He seethed to himself, ‘I just bet Anna taught her-'

A strangled cry brought his attention back to the present and he clamored to his knees, his heart pounding.

“That’d be far enough, gargoyle.”

It was the green eyed demon, his hands curled mercilessly around Anna’s throat. Her feet were dragging on the floor but miraculously, she seemed coherent as she met Adam’s eyes briefly before glancing down to the smoldering hole that was the remains of Kennedy’s captor. Adam made to rise to his feet, but as soon as he did the demon tightened its grip and Anna’s eyes rolled back into her head. She gasped quietly for air and Adam froze. Cortana reappeared to his left, helpless amongst the corporeal fracas. As the smoke faded from the descended demon, the others peered at Adam their faces one by one turning to shock. Green-eyes was the first to speak.

“ _You_.” He hissed, unconciously digging his claws into Anna’s neck. He darted his gaze from Adam to Anna, a truly wicked grin spreading across his face that made Adam’s heart sink.

“Well I’ll be…heh, _damned_.” He purred. “This is even better than I thought it would be. We found the Creature, boys, drinks are on me tonight.”

Adam closed his eyes, trying to will the sounds of the demons’ celebratory whoops to end.

Green-eyes release his grip on Anna’s neck but did not let her go, dragging her with him as he strode towards Adam. For his part Adam glared, keeping his eyes off Anna entirely for fear that he would show something, anything the demons could use against him. His stomach churned as Anna gave a low moan. Cortana whimpered, coming alongside the demon as he stopped in front of Adam just out of arms reach. Adam glowered up at him, refusing to back down.

“We’d heard rumors that you were skulking about, but we hadn’t given them much credence. The Order’s pet creature hasn’t been seen in a century and some of us are still scared of you.” Green-eyes grinned maliciously. Adam said nothing, his fists clenched at his side and his mind racing.

“Taciturn as they said you’d be, if we ever had the misfortune to meet you.” The demon cocked his head to one side. “Though not nearly as deadly as I’d been led to believe.” He motioned to one of the other demons, all of whom were eyes Adam with the same level of triumph fused with fearful caution.

“Get the chains. We’re taking him with us.”

“But… what about the gargoyle?” The smaller demon said. “Naberius said-”

“Naberius didn’t know this thing was still running around, did he? This is better, he’ll know where the gargoyles are hiding!”

“But Naberius _said-”_

“Naberius is _dead_.” Adam shouted, surprising himself at the vehemence in his voice. The demons turned to look at him. “I killed him myself.”

Green-eyes gave a low chuckle.

“Oh yeah. You did, didn’t you. That’s right, he’s all dead and gone. Gone for good. Because we know you can never, _ever_ , come back once you’re descended.”

The other demons laughed, sharing some private joke that simultaneously chilled Adam and made his blood boil.

“Chain him, boys!” Green-eyes cried amidst the laughter. Two demons moved in on Adam, shackles dangling ominously in their grasp. Adam grit his teeth; with Anna in the demon’s hands, he could do nothing.

“No, Adam!” Anna cried, her voice surprisingly clear for having been choked. The demon jerked her upright, caressing her face almost gently as he turned her toward Adam.

Adam’s world reduced to Anna and the demon, desperation rising like bile in his throat. Cortana’s hands flew to her mouth and she began muttering to herself, looking almost close to tears.

“Oh god, oh god, oh _god_.” She whispered, “ _Anna_.”

“Sorry, smart-ass.” Green eyes said as a demon pulled Adam’s hands roughly behind his back. “He knows more than you and we can only bring home one stray. This is nothing personal, okay?” He dropped her arm, placing his hands on either side of her head. Adam surged forward, but the chains and  hands on the demons were already on him, one of them dropping his own kali across his neck to hold him in place. Green Eyes smiled viciously.

“Hope you got your goodbye kiss!” he laughed. Adam’s voice died in his throat, a choked cry the only thing he could manage as he locked eyes with Anna, taking in one last view of her; the grey steel of her eyes, the blood drying on her face… the glow from her left arm and the computerized chirp and whistle that followed the motions of her fingertips until it rose to an alarm.

Cortana covered her eyes.

“Oh GOD.” She sobbed

Anna’s eyes went mad, her pupils shrinking until they were swallowed by the grey almost entirely. Just as the demon put pressure on her face to twist her head and snap her spine, Anna snatched his wrists in her hands and threw herself forward into a sloppy front flip. There was a sickening crunch and Green Eyes fell to the floor, his hands dangling from broken wrists.

Quicker than either the demons or Adam could believe, Anna moved again, scooping up the blessed knife where it had fallen and sinking it into the chest of the demon holding the kali. Before that demon had even burst into flame she hit another, slashing at the hands of the demon holding the chains. Flames licked Adam’s neck as he rolled away, sloughing the chains and reclaiming his kali, pausing only long enough to watch Anna dive into the clouds of smoke and fire. His amazement lasted long enough for a demon to leap on his back and he snapped back into the fight, dealing out vengeance with swift strokes. In the ensuing blasts of heat and ash Adam lost sight of Anna completely, but the shrieking of the demons told him she was working fast. He shut out everything but the fight, his weapons singing in the inferno as he descended demon after demon.

The smoke finally parted around Adam as he cleared the last of the demons before him and zeroed in on the sounds of struggle from behind. Anna had cornered one of the largest remaining demons on the other side of the room. Trapped, it had twisted the knife from Anna’s hand and latched on in an attempt to keep her at arm’s length. She was too much for him, clawing at his face with her free hand, leaving gashes. It was almost comical, and Adam watched, nonplussed, the questions he had brushed away for six weeks vanishing to be replaced with a million new ones.

The demon reeled back from Anna’s attack, shrieking, and raised a fist, bludgeoning her face viciously. Adam roared, snapped out of his reverie, and bolted towards them.

Seeing it was outnumbered, the demon hoisted Anna over its head and threw her at Adam in desperation, making a dash for the door. Thinking quickly, Adam hurled one of his kali seconds before Anna crashed into him and they both tumbled to the floor. The bright rush of orange and the deafening quiet that ensued told Adam that he had hit his mark. The demons were gone.

Adam gulped for air and grasped at Anna, trying to pull her upright and look at her face.

She fought him.

“No, Adam, don’t, I-“ she protested. Suddenly she began shuddering violently, thrashing in Adam’s arms as he sat them both up, holding her from behind. The alarm that had been beeping rapidly throughout the fight reached a fever pitch and her arm began to flash a bright angry red. Adam caught sight of what it was before Anna hastily covered it with her right hand; a hologram imbedded in her skin.

Cortana appeared like a blue nightmare out of the dissipating smoke.

“Anna drop you levels! Your organic systems are going to go into shock, drop your levels, now!” She shouted.

Anna didn’t respond right away and Adam feared she had already gone into shock. But then, slowly, she drew back her hand and taped the inside of her forearm. It came to life in a flickering display of… something, blinking graphs and lines that were lost on Adam, save that every one of them was a shade of red. Anna placed two fingers at her wrist and made a long, slow swiping motion towards her elbow. Blinking dots followed her fingers, the alarm dissipating before cutting off entirely as they neared the crook of her arm and the display turning a soft blue.

The shuddering ceased and Anna’s head fell back against Adam’s shoulder. Panicked, Adam lay her gently on the floor, examining her as best he could. Her eyes were open, her pupils dilated. She was inhaling huge gulps of air, breathing out slow rasping breaths

She would not let him touch her. He reached for her face,  wanting to wipe the blood from her but she ducked him, turning and dragging herself away along the floor.

“Anna…” He said softly, confusion blending with concern. She looked back at him, her eyes fearful. Something was wrong with her face, he realized.

“Adam, please… please don’t” She said, her voice quavering.

“Anna, you’re not bleeding. How are you not bleeding? They… they beat you…”

The flow of blood had ceased, despite how many time she had been hit. In fact, besides what was already drying on her cheeks, there were almost no signs that she had been attacked at all; her face hadn’t begun to swell, there were no scratches, no marks of any kind. Just phantom patches of quickly drying blood that Anna was attempting to violently wipe away.

“Stop that, Anna, it’s all right, just stop, I-”

“No…no” she whispered, sliding away from him until her back was pressed up against the upturned sofa. She grasped her shoulder, digging her fingers in and turning from him as though she could curl up and disappear. He reached for her and she jerked her arm in front of her face as though to block a blow. Adam drew back rapidly, the motion so familiar it hurt.

She was afraid of him. _Anna_ was afraid of him. He had never before wanted so badly to touch her, and if he did she would scream, like a thousand people before her she would scream and he would be alone again, but she was hurt and he needed to help her but how could he do it and not frighten her what if, what if-

‘She needs you.’ Terra’s voice whispered, arresting his thoughts before they spiraled too far out of control. ‘She hasn’t been frightened of you this entire time, why would she start now? Think. This isn’t about you.’

Adam closed his eyes and took a deep breathe. In his mind he saw Terra’s smile, the one that said ‘you’re an idiot’ and ‘I love you’ simultaneously.

‘Adam, for once in your life, trust someone. ’

Slowly he opened his eyes, focusing on Anna’s face, the tears spilling out of her eyes. Completely thrown off and out of his element, Adam held up both his hands, crawling forward on his knees as slowly as he could.

“Anna, I’m not going to hurt you, I just want to help. Please. Let me help you.”

Anna shut her eyes, squeezing them tight.

“Please… please don’t be afraid of me.” She whispered, then gasped and covering her mouth with both of her hands. Adam blinked at her, realization dawning on him slowly.

Her scars, the holograms in her skin. The bot clinic. Oh… Oh God.

“I’m not…” he whispered. Anna froze, her breath hitching in her chest as she looked at him again. He edged closer and she held up a hand as if to stop him. He caught hold of it as gently as he could, clasping it in his own giant’s grasp. Anna’s shut her eyes and turned away from him.

“Adam, I’m so sorry… I’m sorry I’m not..” She stuttered.

“Human?” He finished for her. She met his eyes, shaking and unsure. A tiny smile twitched the corner of Adam’s lips.

“Neither am I. Humans can’t descend demons.” He said softly. Anna swallowed hard.

“Is that what they were?” she asked in a tight voice. Adam nodded. Anna made a low humming sound in her throat and squeezed his hand, grasping at him for support. Before, in his youth, this kind of closeness would have terrified him. She was small, she could be broken. Terra could have been broken. More than that… this close they had the power to break _him_. Terra had done it without even realizing it, at the end. And Anna…

But it didn’t matter. He didn’t even have to struggle to push those thoughts away. He was needed. Anna needed him. His benefactor, his _friend_ , thought he would hurt her because of what she was. It was so familiar, so recognizable that Adam found he had no choice; he would do what he had always fervently, foolishly wished someone would be able to do for him.

“Cortana couldn’t see them.” Anna ground out. “She couldn’t warn us until they were already inside and then Kennedy…” she ran a hand through her disheveled hair.

“Why wouldn’t my gun work?”

Adam looked over his shoulder at his abandoned kali and grabbed the one nearest his foot, offering it to Anna.

“The symbol. It blesses the weapon and makes it abhorrent to demons. Anything and only things with that symbol descend a demon. Holy water or a cross can hurt them too.”

“Ah.”

She said nothing else, examining the weapon, feeling the weight of it and the grip. Adam felt suddenly shy as she looked it over. It was a thing he found strangely intimate, sharing the weapon with her; it was as if she scrutinized a part of his soul.

“Anna?”Cortana’s voice called gently, breaking the spell that had fallen over them. “I’m sorry… I should run a diagnostic on you, you were cranked for a long time and there might have been damage…” She trailed off and waved her hands uselessly at the lab. Adam searched Anna’s face, expecting her to shrink away again. Instead, she remained blank faced, staring at his kali.

“Later, Cortana.” She finally said. “I’d know if there was damage.” She handed the weapon back to Adam, smiling humorlessly. “It suits you. You handle them well.”

A blush spread over Adam’s face and he coughed, desperate to shift focus away from himself.

“You’re a… bot?” Adam asked gingerly, hoping the words were right. Anna stared at him, uncertainty mingling with a flash fear that rose and vanished almost instantly.

            “ ‘You have bots’ is how you say it. ‘Bots’ is street slang that I’m not particularly fond of. But, yes…sort of…” She grasped her left arm in her hand. Her breath was evening, becoming shallower and steady, not the gasping death-rattle from a few minutes prior.

            “I… ah, well...It…”  She began, furiously fighting the tears that kept rising into her eyes. “Damn I wish I could tell you any other way but this! Yes is the answer, but it is such a small fraction of the story and I… I…”

Adam took her hand in his.

“Don’t.” He said hoarsely. “You don’t have to. Let it be, for now. Are you… alright? I mean, are you hurt?”

Anna shook her head.

“No, not… not anymore. I was but… That’s part of it and-”

“Don’t,” Adam repeated, a little more harshly this time. In spite of himself he smiled. “Whatever _was_ or _used to be_ doesn’t matter.”

Anna knitted her brows, disbelief and then recognition washing over her face.  She laughed quietly, a genuine smile easing the tension in her face and body as she fixed him with a mock-accusing look.

“That was very clever. You just don’t want to have to explain all this.” She said, settling against the sofa once more.

“That’s not… that’s not why I said that.”

She chuckled at him.

“It’s why I said it the first time.”

“…Its not the _only_ reason I said that.” Adam replied, casting a look around the destroyed flat, patches of the floor blackened from descended demons.

“I think at this point I have to explain.” He said sheepishly. Anna nodded and closed her eyes.

“Yeah, I think you kind of do.” She agreed, a smile breaking over her face once more. They lapsed into a comfortable silence, both ready to talk and neither feeling the need to start right away.

They remained like that, amidst the wreckage of Anna’s flat for a few blessed moments of quiet until the Gargoyle Order crashed through the balcony window, raining glass over them like a deadly fountain. Anna and Adam collided in an attempt to each shield the other from the glass. Adam’s weight won out and they tumbled to the floor, Anna beneath him as the Order flocked into the room.

Adam stood and whirled towards them as they landed

“God _damnit_ , Ophir, what is _wrong_ with you?!” He roared before catching sight of an all too familiar face amongst the warriors. He swallowed hard, a sinking feeling settling in his stomach.

“Adam, please. You may not be a creature of God, but I did think you had a little more respect than _that_.” The edge hidden under the gentle voice did not escape Adam and he forced himself to meet her eyes with an equally fierce look.

“Hello, Leonore.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys. I am SO sorry for the delay in updating. This chapter was so difficult for some reason! I had a goal that I'd only allow a one week delay between chapters and I'm goign to try my very bestest to hold to that a little better. 
> 
> My consolation is that this is a much longer chapter than previous ones so I hope you all enjoy!

“Hello Adam. Its good to know you are safe since we lost track of you in London.” Leonore narrowed her eyes as she looked around the flat. “Although I find myself perplexed at what you’ve been doing since then. I am not surprised to find you in the middle of a battle, however.”

Adam was in no mood to fight with the Gargoyle queen, but his hackles rose at her condescension; she still enjoyed speaking to him like he was a child.

“I didn’t expect _you_ to come.” He grumbled. Beside him Anna rose slowly to her feet, glass raining off her shoulders with a tinkling sound. Adam moved to help her up but she shook her head, her gaze darting to each face of the Order, perplexed and somewhat awed. Her face bore trickles of blood but no cuts Adam noted in passing, shunting the questions he wanted to ask to the back of his mind for the time being. In the corner of the room Cortana wavered, a dull blue shadow of herself, her wide eyes bouncing from one gargoyle to the next.

“I wanted to be certain you were safe.” The queen said softly, a kind smile crossing her face briefly before disappearing. “Our numbers are smaller than they have ever been, Adam,” Leonore continued matter-of-factly, “Even I must join the ranks against the Horde.”

“One of the many reasons her majesty has insisted you assist us, since our goals appear the same.” A tall, raven-haired woman strode forward and fixed Adam with a disgusted look. “Despite my protestations to the contrary.”

“Hush, Magdalene.” Leonore reprimanded gently. “Adam has ever distanced himself, I do not expect him to change now.”

Magdalene had been appointed Leonore’s lieutenant not long after the battle of Wessex. Although not nearly as staunch as Gideon had been, she was nonetheless part of the contingent of gargoyles that resented Adam’s presence almost as fiercely as they resented the demons’. The numbers had dwindled, both from death and from acceptance of Adam’s invaluable skill but Magdalene had never wavered. She sneered across the room at Adam, as charming as ever.

“Apparently he has no need of us, your majesty.” She said, casting a glance at the scorch marks on the floor. “I needn’t have brought so many warriors to protect your pet, he descended them all.”

“We did.” Adam snapped without thinking and immediately regretted it. A wave of realization passed through the Order as each processed what he said. Both Leonore and Magdalene fixated suddenly on Anna, who froze under their scrutiny. She had been circling the Order quietly, observing them all with her typical clinical examination. As the Queen and her second arrested her with their combined gaze she stopped near Keziah who eyed her with curiosity.

“We…” Leonore repeated, awed.

“Tch,” Magdalene scoffed, “Humans cannot descend demons.”

“Perhaps not _often_.” Anna piped up quietly but firmly. She looked like she was standing on the edge of a cliff, trying desperately not to look down, her hand clenched around her right shoulder. She gave Adam a strained smile.

“Friends of yours?” She asked dryly. Magdalene sneered again.

“Adam is an ally, but he does not have friends.” She asserted.

“Magdalene does not speak for everyone.” Keziah said tersely. She met the withering look Magdalene sent her with cool aplomb, unmoving and unapologetic. Adam sent her a subtle, grateful look over Anna’s head. Keziah did not smile at him, but the corner of her mouth twitched; almost as good where Keziah was concerned. Magdalene rolled her eyes.

“Your Majesty, if these two are confident in their ability to protect themselves, might I suggest returning to the cathedral? Let the creature do as it will, we don’t need him for the assault on the tower.”

Cortana gasped and Anna’s eyes went wide, a new tension crawling into her face.

“The tower? _Nerium_ Tower?” She asked sharply.

“That is not your concern-“ Magdalene began.

“Wasn’t asking you.” Anna spat. She turned her gaze on Adam, a quiet desperation playing on the edges of her voice.

“Adam, what do they want with the Tower?”

Her hand had strayed back to her shoulder and another clue fell into place in Adam’s head. The _Tower_. Of course. Just like Terra, Anna was already too closely involved.

“It’s none of your concern!” Magdalene nearly shouted before Adam could say anything. The gargoyle lieutenant turned insistently to the Queen.

“Leonore, they are safe, we have done what we came here to do, let’s return to-”

The queen held up a hand and quietly contemplated Anna as Magdalene fell silent. To Anna’s credit she met Leonore’s gaze with much less fear than Adam had when first meeting the gargoyle queen, but the amount of defiance was the same. Treading softly in her armor Leonore stepped closer to the doctor.

“There aren’t many who would stand with Adam.” She commented. Anna shrugged.

“Not many who would’ve come back and saved me from demons either.” Anna fired back with an equally stern calm. Her eyes flicked from Magdalene back to Leonore.

“I tend to get protective of my people.” She continued.

“And Adam is one of ‘your people’?” Leonore asked without a trace of a smile.

“Is now.” Anna said immediately. Her eyes were smiling when she glanced at Adam but her face remained tense.

“And if you’re planning on involving him in Nerium, he’s not going alone.”

Instinctually Adam moved to say ‘no’, the dangers of the war rising in his mind again. But alongside it was the image of Anna running full tilt towards the demons, her eyes solid grey, demons exploding into flame around her and the injuries vanishing as quickly as they had been earned. His fear stilled and in its place welled a dangerously hopeful kind of possibility that he did not give voice to, not yet. Like the myriad of questions he had about Anna he put it to the side, letting them rest like embers in the back of his mind.

Leonore smiled sadly down at Anna.

“I understand wanting to protect… your people. I think perhaps your intentions are good, but you do not fully understand what you are asking.”

“Educate me.” Anna replied.

“I believe that would be unwise.”

Anna pursed her lips.

“Adam, do you agree with her?” She asked.

Several pairs of eyes shifted their scrutiny onto Adam and he fidgeted uncomfortably. Anna immediately looked off to the side, a gesture he was grateful for as he felt the weight of the Order’s stares. He worked his jaw, trying to decide what to say.

“Leonore… Anna saved my life. If you’re wondering if you should trust her or not, that should be enough to prove her worth.”

He looked up. Anna was fighting a smile, looking pointedly at the floor. His resolve strengthening, Adam met the queen’s eyes.

“I’ll explain everything to her, with or without you, if you choose not to.”

A moment of silence followed Adam’s words. It was broken, of course, by Magdalene.

“What difference would that make? You know less about Nerium Tower than we do.” She huffed.

“I don’t thought.” Anna suddenly said. Adam turned to her in surprise. She held up a hand; wait.

“You’ve been trying to get into the Tower through the tunnels, haven’t you?” Anna said, directing the question at Magdalene.

“How could you possibly know that?” Magdalene exclaimed, striding forward angrily. A lopsided smile broke over Anna’s face.

“You have. Last week and then a few weeks before that, regularly. You’ve been trying each tunnel in turn, testing defenses I imagine.”

“How. Do you know that.” Magdalene repeated, her face going slightly red.

Triumphant, Anna crossed her arms over her chest, taking a few steps from the concerned gargoyle.

“Cortana, play the holo-record of the groundbreaking ceremony.”

“Are you sure, Chief?” Cortana asked. Her eyes were worried and she was wringing her hands.

“Definitely sure.” Anna said. She moved to stand near Adam, giving him a sidelong glance.

“A few cards of mine on the table, for a few cards of yours.” She whispered to him. He looked at her, confused, but was cut off from pursuing the thought further when the holographic video began playing, hovering in the middle of the room.

A dark skinned man stood at the center of the hologram at a glass podium emblazoned with a blue N. His face was stern, but the smile he wore was genuine and his dark hair was peppered with white flecks. In ten years or so he might have been completely snowy-haired. Dressed head to toe in a fine suit, he shuffled a stack of notecards in his hands and cleared his throat, waving at a crowd that could only be seen by the tops of their heads that floated along the floor near the Order’s feet.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” He said in a strong Southwestern American accent, “My family and I stand here today as refugees, as many of you are. Like many of you, we’ve been chased from our homes by fear and by prejudices. Our world is locked in a conflict greater than anything we have ever seen before. The war between man and machine, between the “natural” and the “unnatural” looms on every horizon. On the one hand we have the eradication of every scientific advancement we have ever made, and on the other we have the overwhelming possibility of the loss of our humanity at the hands of the very technology we created. It is a terrifying prospect, an utterly dividing conflict. We have the chance here to marry both sides of this war, to bring together a resolution to our differences. What we will do here at Nerium Tower will shape the future, to ensure that the generations that survive this conflict will have all the advantages of our technology and of our humanity. Friends, it is the greatest honor I could ever have to stand before you to break ground on Nerium Tower. May it always stand as a beacon for the children of these troubled times, a light of hope and compromise for the future.”

The crowd cheered as the man stepped back from the podium, but Adam wasn’t paying attention to them. The gentleman in the suit beckoned off-camera, and two people joined him on the stage. The first was a pale, red headed woman in a simple yellow dress who accepted a kiss from the speaker with a pretty blush. She looked uncomfortable in front of so many people, but she grasped the man’s hand and smiled shyly at the crowd.

The second…

“Oh my God.” Adam whispered. Leonore didn’t bother to reprimand him; she was as transfixed by the hologram as he was.

The second person was a girl of maybe fifteen, her head held high, a haughty arch bending her neck as she stood next to her parents and surveyed the crowd with steel grey eyes, her red hair blowing in the breeze. Her shoulders were bare, there was no scar around her chin and her hand unscarred and unblemished, but it was absolutely, unmistakably Anna.

Adam whipped his head around to stare at Anna. She did not meet his gaze, looking instead at the hologram of her family with a wistful, if pained expression. Her nails were digging into her shoulder as she walked around the trio in the middle of the picture.

“My father began building Nerium Tower four years after we escaped America. He pioneered a biomechanical nanotechnology that he thought would end the war, and the argument about machine versus man. It didn’t work of course, because the war went on and took half of humanity with it. When that happened, Nerium shuttered itself into a citadel hoping to shut out the war it couldn’t stop. But it couldn’t shut me out.” She waved her hands in the air to the side of the holographic family, a tiny display of the Tower floating in her hand.

“I knew you’d been trying to break into the tunnels because I read security reports on each incident when it happened. I grew up in the top floors of the building, I played in the robotics lab when I was a toddler, hell I think thirty percent of the company’s stock profits still go into my bank account. I have top-level clearance into every aspect of that building. I don’t know what you think you’re going to find in there, but if you want into the Tower, you’re going to need my help.”

She snapped her fingers and the holograms disappeared.

“Now…would you please tell me what it is you’re looking for?”  

The silence that followed her question was deafening. Aside from Magdalene, who was scowling, the faces of the Order had changed from shock to a kind of glee. Since the human war had swallowed up the earth they had followed threads that lead them again and again to Nerium. Nigh on fifty years Adam had helped them chase down the leads to this city and here, at the foot of the Tower, they had been halted and their brothers and sisters slain in a fruitless assault. Now they had a chance at an answer. Adam couldn’t blame them; with the human world so precariously balanced, neither the demon nor gargoyle forces had the upper hand. If the Order struck a blow before the demons did, they could turn the tide of the war. Even Leonore looked hopeful. Keziah caught Adam’s eye, a rare, small smile playing across her face as she sought Ophir in the band of their brethren. Adam found he couldn’t quite join the rising tide of the gargoyles’ excitement; something was niggling at the back of his mind, disconnecting him from their exuberance.

“Magdalene,” Leonore said, her voice trembling slightly, “Keziah. Remain here with me; I believe we have some business here after all. The rest of you return to the new church and continue improving its defenses. Tell the others we may have a key to opening the Tower’s secrets.”

The Order bowed and then moved as one towards the broken window. In twos and threes they leapt from the balcony, whooping and hollering as they disappeared into the night, their raucous cries audible long after they had climbed too high into the air to see.

For one wistful moment Adam envied them, their camaraderie and their kinship. It faded as soon as Anna moved into his field of vision; setting the sofas upright where the earlier battle had knocked them over and shaking glass from the cushions. Leonore retrieved one from the floor and handed it to her.

“Adam has not introduced us.” She said. “I am Leonore, Queen of the Gargoyle Order.”

“Anna.” The doctor replied, throwing the cushions down one the bare sofas and putting them to rights. “Doctor Anna….Hui.” She finished with hesitation that Adam did not fail to miss. Cortana made a ‘tch’ sound and she appeared next to Adam’s shoulder, hovering delicately with her arms crossed. Anna sent her a severe look before presenting her to Leonore.

“This is Cortana, and somewhere around here should be Kennedy… Speaking of which… Cort? Where is she?”

“The clinic, in the third cabinet from the sink. Pretty sure she’s rigged a way to lock herself in too.” Cortana shrugged. “Smart kid.”

“Is she hurt?” Adam cut in, suddenly remembering the demon fire. Cortana shot him a sly, knowing look.

“She’s got a decent cut on her chin. Bleeding, and she’ll need stitches naturally but other than that she’s unhurt. She got you pretty good, huh?” She said, dropping her voice low enough for only him to hear. “You’re going to have a shiner on your eye. From a nine year old.”

Adam bristled but remained silent. There was something more playful and less malignant in Cortana’s expression as she ribbed him. The AI looked over as Anna offered a seat to the queen and her escorts and then turned back to Adam with a grateful look.

“Thank you.” She whispered. The corners of Adam’s mouth twitched and he nodded at her. After six weeks, they’d finally reached a truce.

The doctor stifled a yawn.

“I’m sorry.” Anna grumbled around her hand. “I need a cup of coffee. It’s been an…intense morning so far.”

“I apologize for our entrance. We thought you might be injured and did not want to waste time finding an open door.” Leonore said sounding genuinely apologetic, something Adam rarely heard her do. He had learned not to trust Leonore’s apologies.

“Well… you’re an improvement over the demons.” Anna admitted. Then she chuckled.

“And over him too if we’re being honest,” She continued, waving a hand in Adam direction as she turned to the kitchen. “I mean at least ya’ll are pretty.”

Cortana laughed. For his part Adam simply closed his eyes sighed through his nostrils, frustrated. He followed Anna into the kitchen as Cortana giggled behind in the main room of the flat, the three gargoyles forgotten for the moment.

“Anna,” He said, keeping his voice low. He had figured out what hadn’t made sense about the holo-record. Anna didn’t turn at his voice but stood watching the coffee machine spit warm milk into the mugs she’d set beneath it.

“Anna, Nerium Tower was erected just after the start of the war.” He hoped he was imagining the tremor in his voice. The doctor nodded slowly, still refusing to look at him.

“The war started nearly sixty years ago.” Adam’s voice was definitely trembling. Anna raised her head, staring at the cabinets in front of her. She made a fist with her right hands and drew it unconsciously closer to her.

“Yes.” Anna said evenly. “Yes it did.”

She met his eyes, shaking slightly, letting him absorb the truth of what she had said. In the main room Cortana was speaking with the gargoyles, their voices blending into a slur of words as Adam focus was swallowed by the revelation in front of him.

“How… how old are you?” He whispered. Anna took a very deep breath and then exhaled before answering.

“Seventy… seven?” Anna said uncertainly. “What month is this, June? I think seventy-seven. Seventy eight in three months.” She gave him a weak smile and swallowed, bracing herself for his reaction.

Adam stared at his friend, speechless, as a thousand different thoughts ran rampant together in his head. _Seventy-seven_. She looked as thought she had been frozen in time in her twenties. _How_? The ‘bots? The machines? The word ‘immortal’ flitted across Adam’s mind and his pulse quickened. _Was she like him_? After all this time… All his anger and fury and waiting. After all the death and Terra… How? _How?_            He opened his mouth to give voice to his questions, any of them, _all_ of them at once. Adam’s desire to know was suddenly a tide he no longer wanted to hold back, pride be damned. But Anna raised her hand, her frightened eyes flicking behind him to the gargoyles.

“Not now. Please, not now. Not with them.” Anna licked her lips nervously, her hand straying to her shoulder. “Look I know we’ve had this sort of… unspoken ‘I’ll show you mine if you show me yours’ thing since you got here, I know that. I have a feeling your cards are about to be on the table, Adam, and I swear to you, I _swear_ , I won’t withhold mine but just…” She gulped. “Just not with them here. Please.”

Many people had looked at Adam in fear. No one, not even Terra, had ever look at him in fear and put themselves in his hands like this. He could demand it of her, absolutely. But she was asking him, pleading. Trusting that he would understand. And Adam didn’t need Terra’s voice to know what his response was.

“Of course.” He whispered softly.

Anna closed her eyes and sighed in relief, tension dropping from her shoulders as a smile played over her lips. She rested her hand on his bare forearm- a tortuously familiar gesture that tied him in knots- and squeezed.

“Thank you.” She retrieved the coffee mugs, handing him one. “And I promise-”

“I know.” Adam ground out, giving in to the gruffness he’d always adopted when unable to properly handle his emotions (which, as a rule, was always). Anna’s smile didn’t waver.

“So lets put some cards on the table, shall we?” She moved past him, striding into the main room of the flat with a confidence that betrayed her anxiety from a few minutes earlier. Adam felt a bright gem of happiness rise in him; she had dropped a wall just then, he realized. She had let him see her scared. He quickly mastered himself and rejoined the others.

Leonore fixed him with an intense look as he entered.

“Cortana tells us that you came here nearly dead.” She said, her voice icy.

Shrugging, Adam leaned against the door that opened to the clinic, in the room enough to join the conversation but still distanced.

“I got sick.” He said simply.

“You _got_ an infection because you didn’t keep your cut clean because you wanted to be macho and fearless.” Anna responded quickly, her eyes dancing. Adam didn’t respond; she’d gotten a rise out of him with this before, an as much as he’d come to enjoy sparring with her he wasn’t taking the bait tonight.

“You should have come to us.” Keziah reprimanded, her furious expression belying her concern. Although Ophir was easily closest to Adam out of all of the Order, Keziah cared for him nearly as much. She had never adopted the phrase ‘little brother’ as Ophir had, but she looked out for him and was as fiercely protective of him as she was of Ophir. Adam avoided her gaze by taking a long sip of his coffee, staring into the bottom of the cup as though it were fascinating.

“She is right, Adam.” Leonore admonished gently. “You could have come to us before the injury endangered your life. You’ve always had a place among the Order, since the beginning. You have just always chosen your own way.”

Anna sighed in the palpable tension that followed.

“Does anybody want to explain where this mysterious ‘beginning’ started before this gets too much more like an awkward family reunion?”

Behind the queen Keziah snorted, covering her mouth quickly in an attempt to control herself as Magdalene glared. A shadow of a smile crossed Anna’s face.

“Who wants to go first?” She prompted.

“I will.” Magdalene said immediately.

“You will _not_.” Adam protested.

“Magdalene, be still.” Leonore warned, her voice hard.

“Why, your Majesty? So he can lie about being a living corpse?” the gargoyle said with vehemence. “Surely deception is the only way he’s managed to remain here. He is a monster, he’s done monstrous things and she should know it.”

“Adam has a _soul_.” Keziah challenged, her eyes narrowed.

“Barely.” Magdalene scoffed.

Cold anger shot through Adam.

“Schwanzlutscher!” He muttered, anger momentarily overruling his senses.

“Adam!” Leonore shouted, horrified. Cortana burst into laughter and Keziah slapped her hand across her mouth again, turning her back quickly to the queen, her shoulders shaking. Anna, apparently the only person in the room who did not speak German merely raised her eyebrows.

“You’re really trying to scare me, aren’t you?” She asked Magdalene wryly, her eyes cold. “A-plus for effort, but you’re not going to shock me. I’ve known what Adam was since he fell through my window six weeks ago.”

Magdalene looked furious. Adam merely sent her a wicked, satisfied smirk.

“ _Who_ he is on the other hand…” Anna continued, “That I have been waiting for.”

She said it gently, but it was a jab and Adam grimaced.

“It didn’t seem that pressing to tell.” He rasped.

“Well now it is.” Anna replied, curling her legs underneath her on the couch.

“It’s a long story.”

“Four hundred years long, I expect.”

Adam balked. The doctor rolled her eyes.

“Honestly you get so embarrassingly flustered every time I figure shit out for myself, Adam,” Anna said a little sharply. The annoyance didn’t last and she went on a little softer.

“I took your cellular age from bone samples when you first got here. I _did_ have to go down to the bone to hunt that infection and I took samples to see if there was damage. It wasn’t knowledge that I was looking for but there it is. So that puts you as being born in the 1700s. I’d put money on somewhere in what was Europe being your hometown since you talk to yourself in something that _sounds_ German when you think you’re alone. You have organs and bone from several different donors, all of which are in some stage of necrosis but they function at nearly twice-normal capacity, especially your liver which is working overtime filtering out whatever sepsis would and _should_ be running rampant through your “dead” systems. You run about ten degrees hotter and your heart beats five times faster than a typical human. The majority of your scars are surgical but a fair number of them are from poorly treated injuries, and I couldn’t figure out for the life of me what they could have been from. Now I’m guessing you’ve been having run-ins with _demons_ and you’re stitching _yourself_ up which is why you got an infection which led you here.” She flashed Adam a triumphant smile as he and the gargoyles stared at her.

“You want to fill in the gaps for me?” Anna asked, looking him full in the face.

“He wasn’t _born_ , for starters.” Magdalene interjected before Leonore could stop her.

“I was built.” Adam corrected quickly, recovering the story before Leonore’s lieutenant could go on. “In a lab in in Switzerland, in 1779. I don’t know how many different…parts I’m made of.”

“Who did the work?” Cortana said excitedly, dropping from the ceiling behind the sofa Anna had claimed. “Who was the surgeon?”

The hairs on the back of Adam’s neck pricked as the AI stared him down.

“A scientist named Victor Frankenstein.”

“I _knew_ it!” Cortana crowed, clapping her holographic hands. “I _told_ , you, I knew it!”

Anna met Adam’s questioning glance with a small smile.

“Did you know?” He asked her, surprised.

“I… had a theory.” Anna replied slowly before sighing. “Frankenstein’s work had been pretty much dismissed until war started to really become a threat. It was theorized that if we could just reanimate the dead after replacing whatever had caused the death in the first place it was a less…uncomfortable option to replacing the parts with machines.” Her stopped and something flitted across her eyes, dark and angry. Then she shook herself.

“There was no record of Frankenstein’s work of course, so it was like digging for fossils that weren’t there. There was a company back in the twenty-tens, Wessex, that was working on something similar. They gave us some answers but not much. Only a few things survived the terrorist attack that destroyed the company.

“Terrorist attack?” Adam cut in. “What terrorist attack, when?”

“The one that blew up the institute in Carcassonne? Everyone inside died, including the CEO, Michael Wessex.”

Adam threw back his head and howled with laughter. The gargoyles smiled, sharing the joke, while Anna stared at them nonplussed.

“Is that the story they sold?” Adam gasped. “Oh _God_ , of course.”

“Why?” Anna demanded. “What who sold?”

“The demons.” Leonore said gently, “Wessex Institute was fabricated by demons trying to make an army of beings like Adam.”

“Reanimated immortals,” Magdalene added, “That could house a demon spirit. They could have easily turned the tide of our battle in their favor. By God’s grace they did not.”

“Adam assisted as well.” Keziah put in, her elusive smile turned to him. Anna looked between the four of them, confusion written on her face.

“So, wait the demons used _you_ as a template for their army? How… Alright,” Anna rubbed her face with her hands. “Start at the beginning with this, please, I’m confused. I take it this whole thing didn’t start with Adam’s…” She hesitated.

“Creation.” He finished for her. Anna looked sheepish and a blush crawled up her cheeks.

“Yeah. That.”

Adam nodded to Leonore.

“This part you can have. I only know the essentials of it.”

Leonore launched into the story from the beginning of creation; the Fall, the Horde and the creation of the Order. Anna asked a few questions, but mostly she listened with rapt attention. Adam watched in quiet contemplation as her world expanded far beyond what she had thought to be reality. He suppressed a chuckle; he remembered how that felt.

Finally Leonore led up to his part of the story and he reclaimed the narrative, skipping all but the barest details of his creation and time before being hunted. Anna frowned as he skipped ahead but she didn’t prod him for more, which he was grateful for. He did not relish sharing his pain with Magdalene; somehow he thought Anna understood. And he surmised that Anna would gather far more from his story than he told; she was very good at reading between the lines.

Adam faltered as he began the meat of the story, the battle at Wessex Institute. In this he spared no detail, outlining the whole of the demon’s plans and how the he and the Order had destroyed the army Naberius had hoped to create. He stumbled ever so slightly over Terra’s name and cursed himself, but Anna did not appear to be paying attention anymore. Her face had hardened and she was chewing her lip, staring at her cooled, half-full coffee cup. Adam waited for a reaction, a quip, something, _anything_. But she remained still, a million miles away.

When she finally did speak, her voice was tight.

“How does Nerium fit in to this?” She ground out. “You think they’re building Naberius another army?”

“Naberius is dead-” Keziah began.

“He might not be.” Adam cut in quickly. The three Gargoyles turned to him in alarm.

“The demons here tonight said something about him wanting me. They didn’t know I was here, but when they found out they were going to take me to him. I don’t know _how_ he can be back, but…” He fixed them with a grave look. “He might be.”

“Then we need to move quickly.” Leonore said, turning back to Anna. “Naberius is undoubtably planning a move within Nerium. We have sent many soldiers into the Tower to gather information, through the tunnels as you said. Only a few escaped, but those that did told us before they ascended that there was a very deeply hidden project that the scientists are working on in that tower. They believed was the creation of a demon army. They said it was named Project Legacy. Do you know anything about it?”

Cortana gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. Anna blinked, her breath falling silent as she began to tremor, her knuckles white around her cup. The air seemed to drain from the room and the hair on Adam’s arm pricked in the sudden charged atmosphere, trepidation mounting as Anna’s face twisted and worked.

“Oh nooo” Cortana moaned quietly, shrinking back from the doctor in trepidation.

Suddenly Anna exploded to her feet, a curse flying from her mouth as she launched her coffee cup against the wall near where Adam stood, shattering into pieces as coffee splattered down the clinic door.

“Jesus!” Adam cried, shying from the projectile and watching Anna in shock, totally at a loss.

Anna paced to the front door of the flat, lacing her fingers tightly behind her head and squeezing her elbows around the sides of her face. Her sides heaved as she tried to control herself, her shoulders so rigid she was shaking where she stood. Finally she turned back to her shocked guests.

“How long,” She spat hoarsely, “Have the demons been inside Nerium?”

No one answered her right away. Anna’s jaw was clenched as if in pain and her eyes were wild. Adam watched her, the embers of his questions sparking inside of him, combating the fear and uncertainly that was suddenly racing in his veins. Finally Magdalene worked up the courage to answer.

“Not long after the Tower was built, we believe. Before the human war turned ugly.” She said, more quiet and uncertain than Adam had ever heard her.

Anna punched the door of her flat and left a dent.

“Fuck. It’s me.” She ground out, a desperate, angry note washing over her voice and pulling at Adam’s heartstrings. It was such a familiar sound, and he struggled for a moment to remember how he knew it and the realization rocked him to his core; he had made the same sound often enough at the beginning of his life.

“Chief, calm down.” Cortana said cautiously, her hands outstretched as she floated to where Anna stood. Adam and the Gargoyles may as well have not existed. Anna took one deep breath, holding it for several moments, her eyes closed against the world.

“The timing makes _sense_ , Cortana.”

“No, not necessarily!”

“Bullshit,” Anna barked, causing the gargoyles to jump. “I destroyed everything in the lab, everything in the system about Legacy was wiped out, I made sure. The only reason they would have to resurrect the project was if somebody wanted to recreate what they saw from the beginning. That stupid, arrogant, _relentless_ , son of a bitch…”

Anna dropped her hands and stared out the window, hatred burning from her eyes towards the glowing Nerium Tower. Cortana floated behind her.

“I know what you’re thinking, and you need to _stop_.” Cortana said in a strained voice. “He might not even have _known_ , Chief! You’re father was desperate but he wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t have gotten involved with…with _demons_ , no matter what they could have helped him achieve.”

“You have no proof of that and neither do I.” Anna responded, her voice as sharp as steel. She met Cortana’s eyes.

“How long was I dead, Cortana?”

The words dropped like a stone into the room and Adam forgot how to breathe. Keziah whirled towards him, shock and something akin to fear on her face. He shook his head; I don’t know. Cortana and Anna stared each other down.

“How long, Cortana?” Anna asked again, harsher. The AI squeezed her eyes shut and looked as though she might burst into tears, if she could.

“56 hours, forty three minutes-” Cortana began in a voice so small and defeated Adam almost didn’t hear her.

“56 hours, Cortana. Two and a half days, I was corpse on a slab for two and a half days.” Anna said with venom. “He had to pull me out of a god damn _incinerator_ , what was left of me anyway, to bring me back. And I have full motor function, no memory loss, _nothing_. Aside from the pieces he and Connor jerry-rigged together, I might as well be in perfect health. You tell me that isn’t just the littlest bit a scientific miracle. Look me in the eye and tell me that shit happens all the time. I dare you.” She looked back out at the Tower, seething. Her left hand snuck to her right arm, the nails digging into the flesh as though she wanted to rip it from her body.

Adam followed her pained gaze to the Tower and sympathy welled in him that he did not know how to process, or react to. For the first time in a long time he regretted his exclusion from humanity, that he would be so ill-equipped for this moment. For someone like her; for someone so like him.

“I wouldn’t put it past him to have accepted help from demons to bring me back.” Anna said through clenched teeth. “Not one little bit.”

“He had just lost his _wife_ , Chief!” Cortana said, but she was backing away now, her fire dying quickly. She knew that she wouldn’t win.

“You’re father was a lot of things but he was human. He had the chance to save one of you and he took it.”

Anna turned a furious, deadly gaze on the AI, who shuddered.

“Don’t. Defend him. To me.” She said in an ice-cold voice. “He had the chance, but what right did he have to take it?”

“Jesus,” Adam whispered to himself. “Jesus… _Jesus.”_

Cortana dropped to the couch Anna had vacated, deflated.

“Your father’s been dead for twelve years, Chief. Can’t you just let it rest?”

Anna snorted, then broke into a manic giggle and pressed a hand to her face.

“It must run in the family.” She finally said with a smile that chilled the blood in Adam’s veins. Then she met his eyes and such a look of fear and desperation crossed over her face that she looked almost as young as she had in the holo-recording. For a moment, she looked as if she was going to shatter. A surge of protectiveness rose within Adam, and it was only the presence of the Order that kept him where he was, frozen against the clinic wall. Anna seemed to notice the gargoyles again and shook herself.

“Whatever you need to get in the Tower, I’ll help.” Anna said, addressing the queen. “I think I might have a way in.”

“I’m coming with you.” Adam said immediately. Anna met his gaze as both Keziah and Magdalene protested.

“Actually…” Anna said, a contemplative look breaking through the cloud of anger that engulfed her. “That might not be a bad idea…Yeah…” She trailed off, her thoughts taking her far away before she returned to the present.

“I need a day to work this out. I don’t know how dangerous it is for you to travel, but can you come back here tonight? After I’ve had some time to fine tune what I’ve got in mind?”

Leonore nodded slowly.

“Are you certain that you can help?” She asked quietly. “I would not have this turn into –another- quest for personal vengeance.”

She turned her gaze to Adam meaningfully. Adam grimaced and looked away.

“So what if it is?” Anna asked bluntly. “You aren’t going to send more of your people in there to die. I can get you the information you need without more loss of life, at least on your end. What does it matter if I have a personal interest in what’s going on in there?”

The gargoyles didn’t have an answer for that. Adam was mildly impressed and a small smile stole across his face.

“So be it.” Leonore acquiesced reluctantly. “If your plan is agreeable, we will assist you in securing what you would have from Nerium. So long as we obtain the information that will aide us in our fight, I believe it matters little what investment you have in the information.”

Leonore rose, her armor clinking musically, and moved toward the shattered balcony window.

“Your Majesty.” Keziah stepped forward, bowing to her queen. “With your permission, I’d like to remain here. The demons may return before you do.”

Magdalene raised her eyebrows.

“I believe its been established that Adam and his…companion… can handle themselves.”

Something about the way she said ‘companion’ rankled and Adam suppressed the growl that rose in his throat, content to shoot a scathing glare at her instead.

“I’d be grateful if you did stay.” Anna cut in as she strode around the edge of the room to the kitchen, sounding tired. “I don’t know about Adam, but I’m exhausted. I may not wake up for the next demon attack.”

As if to punctuate the point, a yawn startled her and she turned away to cover it. Leonore looked between Anna and Adam, a strange, cautious expression on her face.

“I had hoped Adam would rejoin us at our new home.” She said tartly.

Anna’s head tilted back, but she did not look at Adam. Cortana on the other hand, jumped up from the couch, her eyes wide.

“Stay.” She mouthed, throwing a glance at Anna and then back at him, conveying more in one look than she could say. “Please.”

“I …have a place here.” Adam fumbled. “No Leonore, you know I don’t belong with the Order.”

He did not say what he felt, that he was needed here, but the tension slacked from Anna’s shoulder’s at his response and confirmed it to be true. Cortana sent him a grateful smile before flickering out. Leonore looked angry.

“So be it. Keziah, report to us if a force that is overwhelming attacks you. I will not lose you for the sake of this foolishness. Come Magdalene.” Without another word she and Magdalene ascended the short set of steps to the balcony and launched into the newly pink-tinged sky. Adam watched them leave with a mixture of resentment and relief. He hadn’t realized how late it was getting; the sun had climbed above the rim of the world some time ago. Keziah smiled at him, then turned and gave Anna a slight bow.

“If you have need of me, I shall be on the rooftop.” She said. “Rest well.”

Then she was gone, the sound of wing beats following her into the sky.

For a while, neither Adam nor Anna spoke. The embers of all Adam questions needled him and he ignored them desperately.

“She’s nice.” Anna finally said distractedly. She was resting her elbows against the counter of the island, her fingers picking at her lips nervously.

“Many of the Order are.” Adam admitted, crossing slowly to her.  “I’m sorry you did not get to meet Ophir. He… he very much wanted to know you.”

Anna smiled tiredly and gave a short soft laugh before lapsing into silence.

“Adam.” She said abruptly, turning to him with such intensity he had to force himself to keep still. “Adam, I…”

She fell silent, cutting of whatever she had been about to say behind her teeth. Adam’s heart sank, though he couldn’t put a finger on why.

“Adam, I promised I’d… I mean I _want_ to explain.” She stuttered, swallowing hard. “But… but Adam everything’s _different_ than what I thought. I thought I knew… everything about myself and now… Now every thing has changed and I can’t… I can’t tell you until I know for certain that… that I’m not… that the demons didn’t…”

A singled tear dropped from her eye and she turned her face as if to hide it from him. Adam closed the distance between them in three long strides, lifting his hand to her face unconsciously. She gave a little gasp and pulled back slightly, uncertainly mingling with surprise in her eyes. The moment hung in the air, tense and heavy. A very present fear stabbed through Adam’s heart; what if this was too much. Anna’s eyes were guarded again, closed off from him in a way they hadn’t been before. It wasn’t the detached professionalism; this was something entirely different, a wall of fear and defensiveness that pierced him right to the core.

‘Is this what I looked like, in the beginning? Like a caged animal, afraid of its own shadow. How did Terra ever… how did she ever push past that enough to love me?’

He feared Anna would do as he had done, push him away, and close him off entirely.

‘No, please, don’t let it happen. Let her be better than me, please don’t let her leave me…’

Then Anna closed her eyes and pushed her face into his hand, letting go of whatever had held her back, choosing the comfort over the loneliness. Adam breathed deeply and ran his thumb over the rivulet the tear had left, wiping it away. His fingers finally did what he had wanted to do since the moment he had noticed it and caressed the scar under her chin, feeling where it met the unblemished skin, cool and smooth and beautiful. Anna made a small sound as he touched her and the embers he had shunted to the side flared, licking flames along his spine

“How long was I dead” she had said. Dead. Undead. _Immortal_. Adam ached with a sudden desire to kiss her, to press himself close and finally, _finally_ … Before he knew it he was ducking his head to gently touch her lips with his own, to have at least one question answered if none of his others were.

What would she do if he did?

He knew what he had done. He had _run_.

‘Adam, don’t.’

Terra’s voice cut through his thoughts and he halted just as Anna’s eyes fluttered back open. She started, surprised to find him so close. For an instant Adam fought with himself; push forward, consequences be damned, or pull back?

Finally, as if a weight hung from his neck he retreated, so slowly it almost hurt.

“It’s alright, Anna.” He said softly, the growl in his voice reduced to a husky whisper. “I know. You don’t have to, nothing is owed. I… understand needing to know.”

Anna bit her lip, a grateful, if somewhat preoccupied smile crossing her face. Adam moved to drop his hand from her face but she caught it before he did, her fingers curling around his index and middle fingers. She hesitated, and then turned her face until her lips were pressed against the exposed flesh above his glove, kissing him gently on the pads of his fingers.

Time froze. Adam’s heart leapt into his throat and his other hand twitched forward, whether to pull her closer or push her away he didn’t know. Anna’s breath was warm against his skin, sending shivers up his spine. She smiled slightly, her lips still pressed against his fingers.

“Thank you for staying.” She whispered, her eyes still turned away, saying far more than the words conveyed. Adam nodded, his throat dry. Anna slowly pulled back from his touch and he let his hand fall to his side.

“You should get some rest. I have a feeling things are…” She hesitated, worry clouding her face. “Things are going to get interesting.”

Anna met his eyes shyly before turning and walking quickly towards her room, shutting the door behind her. Adam looked after her for several long moments, the fire along his spine tingling down his arm to where she had kissed him. Almost in a dream he climbed the staircase to his room, knowing as soon as he laid eyes on his upturned bed he would not sleep. Instead, he swung out onto the fire escape once more, climbing to the roof where Keziah was waiting patiently, as he knew she would be. She uncrossed her arms and walked to him as he jumped over the last few rungs of the fire escape ladder.

“Everything you told Ophir.” The gargoyle said. “Tell me.”

And in the light of the new day, unable or unwilling to deny his friend, Adam let the words tumble out of his mouth in a low, dazed whisper as the flesh on his fingers burned with the remnants of Anna’s kiss.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooooooh things are getting so good guys!! I can't wait for you all to read the next few chapters, I'll get them out as quickly as I can!
> 
> Thank you so much for your readership and enjoy!

Chapter 10

 

 

Diary Entry; September 28th, 2014

 

I saw Adam on the rooftops again. He’s still keeping his distance, but he watches me, or watches over me rather. I miss him. I should have known kissing him would push him away. I just… I couldn’t hold back anymore.

The past six months have been so surreal. The moving, the running… hiding around every corner. My new apartment is so alien. No matter how much I try to make it look like home I still see demons in every corner. I can’t get comfortable. The nightmares have started to get better, but I still sleep with the light on. Adam was almost angry the first time I told him the nightmares were keeping me up. That was back when I was still sleeping at the cathedral. He put his personal quest on hold to stay with me each night. I think he felt personally responsible for the terrors and the uprooting of my life.

My whole world changed when he walked into it. I could never and will never regret it, but… everything I had is gone. I can’t even go by my real name! All I have left is Adam. He makes me feel safe; he’s the only thing that does now.

He held me one night.... I dreamed that the demon had expelled his soul, and he was possessed. He had taken a place at Naberius’ side and then the killing started… I woke up screaming. Adam held me until I fell asleep again…

I didn’t think he ever would. He never wants to touch me, he avoids it whenever possible but that night we were so close I almost couldn’t sleep again. I don’t think either of us did; he was just as nervous as I was I think. I was already thinking about him so much, him and the demons, but after that…

I shouldn’t have kissed him. I mean… not like that. I should have waited, shouldn’t have rushed it. Maybe I should have let him make the first move.

He talks so often about his new purpose. I thought when Naberius was descended that the war would be over, and that Adam would be free. I was wrong. He and the Order are still fighting; there are pockets of demons as far away as Tokyo where Wessex had facilities. Will they ever all be destroyed? How long will that take? Adam and the Order may have an unlimited amount of time but I’m human and I don’t.

God… That sounds so selfish. How can I be that selfish? But it makes me feel so small, so insignificantly small. I don’t have the same purpose as Adam, I cannot fight with the gargoyles. I sew them up when they come home hurt, I tell them as much as I can about Wessex and the other facilities, but beyond that there is little I can do. Why is this his fight now? Why can’t he just…stay.

 

End of Entry

 

The black ink of Terra’s diary had faded to a hazy blue and the pages were worn from the times Adam had gone over them again and again. He closed the journal, chewing his lip.

Adam had read that same passage so many times over since Terra’s son had given him the stack of her diaries after the funeral. That and the one other entry that tore him to pieces had been playing over in his mind all day as he spoke with Keziah.

The gargoyle to his very great relief had said nothing as she listened to his story, only nodded her head and furrowing her brow occasionally. Unlike Ophir, Keziah would not feel the need to give him advice unless he asked for it. Adam found himself grateful for this; Keziah was like a well he could throw his problems into, letting them rest before taking the burden up again. Her quiet sternness had buffered him when Terra had died more than Ophir’s advisements had.

Adam dropped the diary into his backpack where it rested beside his bed. He had attempted to sleep after leaving Keziah to her quiet vigil on the roof, once he had sorted his room back to a semblance of order. But sleep had evaded him as he had foreseen it would and he found himself fumbling for the remnants of Terra.

The memories were old now, worn like river stone so when he touched them they didn’t jar him quite as much as they used to. They were familiar parts of himself, and whatever pain they may have once brought on was dulled by both time and forgiveness.

Back then his newfound purpose, as Leonore had aptly put it, had irrevocably changed the fire that constantly burned within him. For the first time in his life he had truly felt joy in his task. He had a soul. He mattered. He was here for a purpose.

And then there was Terra. She was not afraid of him, not anymore. He could protect her, watch over her. Be with her and talk with her. The longing that had been his fiercest desire since Victor Frankenstein had cast him out was suddenly less desperate, less insistent. He had someone with him now. A companion.

Until the moment Terra pressed her lips to his, he thought his life had turned.

He knew something was different the moment he had walked through her door. Terra was nervous, she was almost always nervous since the attack on Wessex, a fact that broke Adam’s heart. But this was a different kind of nervous; a fidgety, almost shy childish nervousness. She looked beautiful, Adam remembered. She had put on makeup, she was wearing a dress, both things he had seen her in before but this was different. Deliberate. Thought out. It made her edges look sharp; polished, like a diamond. It made him stumble over his words as they talked. It kept drawing his eyes to her lips as they moved, pink flashes of temptation.

In truth Adam had wanted to kiss her far sooner than that night, but he had held back. Things were much different than the early days of his creation, when he had watched lovers to know how to be once his own companion was born. When Frankenstein had torn his own would-be lover apart Adam had turned his eyes away from every lover’s interaction he came upon. He was almost afraid of them, of how empty they made him feel and how alone. Now with Terra, who could look him in the eye without flinching, he was at once completely lost and newly found. The exhilaration of finding somebody who might finally, finally be his companion, his, drew him back to her apartment night after night if nothing else but to be with her, to see her look him fully in the face. When she smiled at him he thought his heart would tear itself apart.

But when the conversation finally ran dry one night and she leaned in close to place a timid kiss on his lips, it wasn’t enough. She backed away too quickly and he grabbed her shoulders, pulling her back to him, excited, demanding. Finally, _finally_.

Terra beat her hand on his chest and pushed him back, her protests barely registering until she made a small, terrified sound against his mouth. It reached far back into his memory, to the night he killed Elizabeth Frankenstein and he wrenched himself away from her, holding her at arms length as a slow revulsion crawled up the back of his throat.

Her eyes were afraid. Of him. Adam’s world cracked around the edges and he suddenly hated the sight of his hands on Terra’s shoulders, the monster marring the maiden. She spoke his name once and he couldn’t take the pity in her voice, the horrid forgiveness that she extended, the excuses for what he was that were lingering hesitantly on her tongue.

He ran.

It was three weeks before he spoke to Terra again, though he watched her almost incessantly. She was looking for him at that point, hunting demons on her own. She was drawing him out, he realized. It made him feel only a little better. When a small group of demons cornered her he had leapt down on them with a vengeance, descending them as easily as he ever had. She had burst into tears and thrown herself against him, burying her face in his chest. He had wrapped his arms around her and pressed his lips to the top of her head, but no more.

Neither of them talked about that night ever again. Adam drew the line of their relationship very firmly in the aftermath; he stayed with Terra as often as his personal quest allowed, he watched over her and loved her from afar. But he would never again get that close to her.

Adam let his eyes fall closed in the quiet of his room, looking over the emotions of that time like they were baubles he had collected long ago, their bitterness faded and tired.

He had been so stupid that night, but he wasn’t sure he regretted the choice to push Terra away. There had been moments where he had, if he was honest with himself. The night he first read the diaries came to mind, in a haze of alcohol he should never have been allowed to touch. Terra had written over and over again how she wanted him to stay with her, how she could teach him how to be human, how to exist in the human world. How she wished he would give up his quest, his purpose, and be with her. For the first fifty years or so after Terra’s passing it had torn him up inside, made him feel guilt he knew Terra had never intended or she would have told him these things outright.

Terra had been human, by her nature fragile. He was not. No matter how much he might curse his maker for that fact, he was not human. He would have broken her, eventually. Not on purpose, never. But there would have been a time when his passions might have hurt her. She would have forgiven him, of course she would have, and he would never have been able to stand it. He would have lived his whole life restrained, only able to love her with half of who, of _what_ he was, only able to be fully himself when he was fighting. When he was killing. It would have played havoc with his mind. He knew that now, after two hundred years of running and fighting and reading how much she loved him and wishing he could turn back time.

Until he woke up in Anna’s flat. Until somebody else could look him in the eye, know what he was and keep looking.

Movement downstairs drew Adam’s attention out of the past. Anna's voice floated through the floorboards followed by Kennedy’s and relief flooded Adam; he’d been worried about the girl. He got to his feet quickly, hurrying to the interior stairs to the main rooms of the flat.

The sun was rapidly fading into the cloud of smog surrounding citadel city, Nerium Tower projecting its eerie luminescence into the increasing gloom. Kennedy was sitting on the clinic table, her head tilted back while Anna examined the blood-caked mess that was her neck and chin. The girl’s skinny legs were crossed at the ankle and she was swinging them back and forth, looking perfectly content to be covered in her own dried blood. Anna look furious as she dabbed at the crusted gore, trying to find the source.

“Seriously, you used every cotton ball in the cabinet, didn’t you?” the doctor asked.

“I put pressure on it.” Kennedy said cheerfully. Anna sighed.

“I see that. With every cotton ball in my clinic. Good job.” She angled her head, trying to see under Kennedy’s chin. “You’re going to needs a few stitches. Stay still, let me get my kit.”

Anna fluttered away, a look of annoyance on her face. She hadn’t noticed Adam yet, but Kennedy smiled shyly at him from across the room. Adam found himself returning the smile as he crossed to the sofas, marveling at how clean the flat was. There was no trace of the broken glass, and even the black char-marks on the floor had been scrubbed, their edges blending outward into the floor. Probably the work of the small,annoying machines that hid in the clinic and cleaned whenever he was asleep. He stopped, transfixed, when he caught sight of the balcony doors; three of the four glass panels had been entirely repaired. A small whirling machine that moved back and forth across the open expanse of the empty doorframe was completing the fourth. The glass was shimmering with heat as the machine passed over it incessantly, clicking to itself in a staccato language of its own.

Anna turned from the cabinet she had been rummaging in and caught sight of Adam watching the machine. She flashed him a tight, tired smile and returned to her examination of Kennedy’s chin.

She looked worn, Adam realized as he watched her, wondering if she hadn’t been able to sleep either. He thought not. Her jacket was zipped up to her chin, as if she could keep whatever it was hiding from getting out. There was a tension bubbling under the surface of her skin that he recognized all too well; it was the long, slow anger that had plagued him for much of his ‘youth’, the thirst for retribution. Adam felt a pang of sympathy but also an icy caution that gripped him and held fast, his river-stone memories tumbling against each other in his head. Gargoyles and humans had died because of his anger once, and he had thought himself righteous then. What would be the repercussions of Anna’s anger? Cortana materialized beside him and they shared a very pointed look. Adam nodded at the AI; ‘I’m watching her.’ Cortana nodded and floated off to examine the repair machine.

Setting aside his anxiety for a moment, Adam narrowed his eyes at the unfamiliar thing.

“What is it?” Adam asked.

“3D printer.” Cortana replied as Anna tore open a new set of suturing needles from their sealed packet.

“Its the old one I retrofitted for the glass when I refurbished this place. I have a new one that I built after the clinic opened. Its what I used to build robotic parts, when I can get the material.” Anna cut in, falling abruptly silent again and tossed Adam a nervous smile.

“I’m implicating myself a little there.” She said timidly. Adam knitted his brow; confused for a moment before he remembered the secret surgeries she performed. He shrugged.

“Who am I going to tell?” Adam asked. She considered this and then nodded.

“True.”

She turned her attention once more to Kennedy, who lifted her chin expectantly.

“You sure you don’t want a local?” Anna asked her, diving into the work before Kennedy answered.

“Nope.” The girl answers, tilting her head to stare at the printer working its way across the window.

Adam watched them for a moment, captivated.

“I thought you used Singers?” He asked as he settled himself on the sofa where he could watch them. Not looking up Anna nodded.

“For bigger cuts, yeah, they’re awesome but they’re really only quicker for flatter parts of the body. Your chest, for instance, or the widest part of your leg. This one only needs a few stitches. I’ll save my Singers for something a little more intense.” Her face clouded suddenly and Adam thought he saw her eyes flick to the Tower out the window. Then she shrugged and clipped the thread she was holding.

“I need the practice anyway.” She grinned. The smile didn’t reach her eyes.

“Alright kiddo, you’re done.” Anna said and gathered her tools, placing them in a brightly lit compartment that hissed as she closed it. Kennedy hopped from the table and pattered through the main room of the flat, skirting the black patches the descended demons had left to crawl onto the couch next to Adam, kneeling on the cushion. She considered him quietly for a moment before reaching up and placing both hands on either side of his eye.

Adam resisted the urge to flinch violently away, his body tensing with the effort. Kennedy studied his face, appearing not to notice his discomfort. A muffled snort told him Anna was watching, and he very much wanted to turn a glare on her.

“What’s the diagnosis?” Anna asked as she came into Adam’s view, not bothering to hide the amusement in her voice or her smile.

“Broken blood vessels.” Kennedy said. “In and under the eye. Due to trauma.”

Anna’s eyes narrowed and she took Adam’s chin in her hand, peering at him like a doctor once more. It felt strange for her to be looking down on him again, too much like the night she mended his infection, but Adam met her eyes without flinching.

“How the heck did that happen?” Anna wondered aloud.

“I hit him in the eye.” Kennedy piped up, a small but very proud smile on her face as she held up her hand flat, her fingers rigid. “Spear hand.”

There was a beat. Then Anna’s eyes went wide and he mouth fell open in surprise, a guilty smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Adam smiled back at her knowingly, his suspicions from earlier having been confirmed.

“I thought you’d be to blame for that.” He said wryly.

Anna’s face turned very red and she ducked away, barely containing her laughter as she went back into the clinic. Once more Kennedy reached up and gingerly touched the skin beneath Adam’s eye.

“Sorry about your eye.” She said quietly. Adam looked at her.

“Sorry about your chin.” He replied, a smile tugging at his mouth. Kennedy raised her eyebrows.

“Did it hurt?” She asked.

“No.” Adam shook his head.

“Oh. Me neither.” Kennedy returned with confidence. From the clinic Anna groaned and muttered something that sounded like ‘liars’.

Kennedy considered Adam for a moment, her face unreadable. Then she shifted on her knees and sat on his lap, leaning against his chest. Adam went instantly rigid, his nerves suddenly taut, completely taken back as he tried to sink backwards into the couch cushions away from the girl. He wildly searched for Anna who returned from the clinic with an icepack, stopping midstride when she saw Kennedy. Several emotions washed over he face before she pressed her lips together, desperately holding back a smile. Adam wanted to scream something obscene at her. Kennedy didn’t seem to notice.

“I only have three stitches today. I had six when I cut my lip. How many did you have?” She asked him, tracing a scar on his arm. Adam tried subtly to move out from under her, extracting his arm as best he could, but Kennedy didn’t budge.

“Anna.” Adam finally said, gruffly admitting defeat. “I don’t… um…”

“Oh no you got into that all by yourself.” Anna said, cracking the cold pack in her hand to activate it. When Adam looked at her strangely she shrugged. “You didn’t believe me when I said she adopted me when I stitched her up after she was attacked, did you? Well…” She paused, her smile softening and some of the tension dropping from her shoulders. “Well, welcome to the family.”

Adam stared at her as the weight of what she had said settled over him, blinking in surprise. Slowly, slowly, he uncurled the fist he had made and, with a timid questioning look at Anna, pressed his hand gingerly against Kennedy’s back.

“I…never counted how many stitches.” He said, his voice hoarse with nerves. “I tried not to look at them. Those, those did hurt.”

“Oh.” Was all Kennedy said before falling into a comfortable silence. Anna nodded reassuringly at Adam as she leaned over and placed the cold pack gently against his injured eye, covering it with the hand she rescued from Kennedy to hold it in place.

“My spine hurts.” Kennedy said, looking innocently up at Anna.

“That’s what happens when you hide in a cabinet for six hours.” Anna replied sarcastically, a smile ghosting over her face. “You can sleep in my bed tonight, it’ll make it feel a little better.”

“Chief?” Cortana broke in quietly. “Sorry, but Kit’s coming up.”

Anna straightened, her face clouding for a moment.

“Alright, time to get ready then. Can you tell um…” Her eyebrows knitted. “Uh… The lady on the roof to let me know when the rest of our party arrives?”

“Keziah.” Adam cut in, amused.

“Yes. Her.”

Cortana chuckled and flickered away. Through the unrepaired part of the window Adam heard a hastily cut of shriek from the roof and suppressed a laugh. Anna ran her fingers through her hair, letting it down and shaking the knots from it.

“Kennedy, there are going to be a lot of people here tonight, do you want to stay? Or would you like to head home?” Anna asked. The girl looked up at Adam and then settled back against his chest.

“Stay.”

“You sure? It’s strangers.” Anna said uncertainly, her auburn hair tumbling around her shoulders as she ran her hands through it again, gathering it back into the tie she held in her teeth.

“Yup.” Kennedy replied nonchalantly. Adam met Anna’s eyes. The doctor shrugged.

“Alright well, my rooms open if you want someplace more comfortable to hide this time.” Anna added wryly.

There was a knock at the door and Anna turned, calling over her shoulder.

“It’s open, Kit.”

The front door of the flat swung open and the tall, lanky youth that had brought Anna the ‘bot victim weeks ago strode through the door. There was no trace of dejection and anger from that night in his face now, and the smile he flashed at them was easy and wide. He winked at Kennedy who giggled and hid her face in Adam’s chest.

"Hi Kit." She said into the fabric of Adam's shirt. Kit laughed.

“How’re my beautiful ladies?” The boy asked, some of his words betraying a Russian accent. He had a small bundle of bright purple flowers in his hand that he extended to Anna as she crossed to embrace him.

“For you, my friend.” Kit added as she accepted them with narrowed eyes.

“These are from the citadel.” Anna said suspiciously. Kit shrugged and looked down at his shoes.

“They’re um… an apology? I guess?” He said awkwardly, his voice increasing in pitch.

“Apology? For what?” Anna said, nonplussed.

“You know… a couple weeks ago… the um. The lady. I was upset and well… you were only helping how you could and I said some pretty foul things to you. So… Agh, I dunno. I’m sorry.” He scuffed his toe on the floor. Adam suddenly got the sense that there was much more he wasn’t saying. Anna was watching the boy's face, quiet for a moment before going on the tips of her toes to plant a kiss on his cheek.

“It’ll get better, Kit. Things _are_ going to change ...for people like us.”

The boy sniffed.

“When?” He asked stubbornly.

“Adam, my lady Anna. The Order draws near.” Keziah broke in, entering from the stairwell and freezing as she caught sight first of Kit and then Kennedy seated comfortably on Adam’s lap. She looked blankly between them as if trying to decide which made her the most uncomfortable. Kennedy stiffened, balling Adam’s shirt into her hand. Thinking quickly Adam flashed Keziah a small smile.

“Hello Keziah.” He said as warmly as he could manage. Keziah froze as she registerd what she was seeing, her head tilting slowly to one side in amazement. Kennedy looked at Adam's face and then back at Keziah, relaxing her grip on Adam as she decided everything was apparently alright. Adam felt a weird sense of accomplishment as she settled back; if it didn’t worry him, Kennedy wasn’t worried. Keziah gave Adam a strange, wide-eyed look that he responded to with a shrug.

Anna had crossed into the kitchen and was busy placing the flowers in a shallow glass of water. The tension in her body had returned full force, increasing as Leonore and the parts of the Order the Queen had deemed necessary tapped on the pane of the balcony doors. Cortana appeared and the doors began to accordion back, the machine halting its work for the moment.

Kit and the Order eyed each other while Leonore goggled at the child sitting on Adam’s lap. Once again, Kennedy eyed the new visitors with distrust, shrinking against him in apprehension. Adam increased the pressure of his hand against her back, hoping the motion was comforting. Kennedy remained where the was, albeit her body language was very wary. He couldn’t resist the smirk that rose to his lips as Magdalene met his eyes with something like disbelief.

‘Not everybody thinks I’m a monster’ he thought to himself, perhaps a little gleefully. Anna rejoined the crowd, perching on the couch across from Adam. Kit immediately joined her, looking for the first time a little uncertain.

“Who is he?” Magdalene asked sharply.

“Yes, I thought this would be be kept within the Order and yourself, Anna.” Leonore agreed. Kit raised his eyebrows and cast a nervous look at Anna.

“New friends?” he asked timidly. Anna pressed her lips together.

“If we want to get into the Tower, we’ll need things only Kit can get us, so I thought he’d need to hear the whole plan.” She said, her voice stern. Kit gasped.

“The Tower? We’re hitting the _Tower_?” He asked excitedly, his face lighting up. Magdalene rolled her eyes dramatically.

“Not exactly.” Anna said and sighed. “Look, everybody sit down and get comfortable. This little war meeting is going to be a long one.”

The Order settled itself around the queen uncomfortably; clearly unsure this was a good idea. Ophir broke from the group and crossed to Keziah who had taken a timid seat near Adam and was exchanging furtive, curious glances with Kennedy.

“Ok.” Anna began as if steeling herself to speak. “First things first, I guess. Cortana and I think we’ve figured out why your reconnaissance missions have failed.”

Anna began tapping the air; each finger point sending out holographic ripples that brought back a window that floated in the air in the middle of the room.

“I was able to get some security footage from the Tower, booted it from citadel police who are effing useless but legally have to be allowed to view the Tower security records. It about the only thing Nerium doesn’t and can’t super encrypt. Thus, we have this stuff.”

On one of the screens a video began playing of a long white hallway crisscrossed by humans. Magdalene drew in a sharp breath.

“Dana.” She whispered.

Adam’s brow furrowed and he looked at Ophir, confused. Ophir, his face sad, pointed to the image of a blond woman who was walking much slower than the rest, as if she was unceratin of her purpose there.

“One of the first to venture inside.” He said, his voice tight.

On the holo-screen, Dana turned a corner, finding herself suddenly alone. Without warning demons flooded the corridor. Beside Anna Kit gasped as Dana roared into her gargoyle form. Anna hushed him, and to Adam’s surprise, the boy ddin’t break in again, just watched the fight with wide, mystified eyes.

Dana fought bravely but it was too late; she was swarmed and overwhelmed, brought to the floor by the seemingly unending tide of demons. Several of the Order stifled sobs. Anna tapped the screen and the image stopped.

“Quick question.” Anna said. “Do demons have an aura that you can sense?”

“Yes,” Adam said automatically, his voice sounding far harsher than normal in the tense quiet.

“And vice versa? They can sense gargoyles?” Anna pressed, looking at Leonore.

“Yes, they can.” Magdalene nodded, her eyes on the queen. Leonore’s gaze was fixed on Dana, her eyes hard and bright.

“That explains it then. I think the demons are chasing your shadows.” Anna said grimly.

“Our what?” Leonore asked sharply, pulling herself from the video screen.

“Shadows. Look.” Anna collected another holo-screen on her fingertips and expanded it, pushing it until it hovered in front of Adam and Keziah.

“Gargoyles show up on video, that much is obvious. But if we switch it to say, infrared…” she tapped the screen. From the other side of the screen Adam watched the Order’s faces change to grim surprise. Anna swiveled the holoscreen and passed it over her own body so he, Keziah and Ophir could watched the transition from her body, a mass of reds and yellows to the Order, who did not show up on the screen at all. Adam’s brow furrowed, realization coming over him slowly.

“You have no heat signature.” Anna continued, dismissing the screen. “Infrared is a pretty basic technology, so the whole Tower is rigged with it.  Now a regular human security guard wouldn’t even need to look at the heat signature. But if they have demons in the booth who know what they’re looking for…”

“Then we are painfully obvious.” Magdalene interjected, sounding both ashamed and furious.

“Yes. All they have to do is clear the halls and get in close to you. As soon as they sense you’re a gargoyle, they attack.” Anna finished.

“No wonder they were able to dispatch us so quickly.” Magdalene looked down at her feet, her eyes icy. Adam felt a small amount of pity for her; she had ordered her men to their deaths without even knowing it.

“That’s the other thing…” Anna said, chewing her lip. Magdalene fixed her with a withering look. Anna ignored her, instead meeting the Queen’s eyes.

“I… I’m sorry, you’re highness, but I think your people are still alive.”

Anna tapped the video screen once more and it resumes playing. Dana struggled under the weight on the demons who bit and spit at her mercilessly. A demon in a white lab coat approached, a syringe in her hand. Miraculously, the needle penetrated the gargoyles stony skin and Dana was injected with a dose of…something. Her struggles became less violent until they faded away altogether, allowing the demons to drag her unceremoniously through a door where Dana disappeared from all sight.

Leonore sat rigidly, her hands in angry fists in her lap.

“You think those who went into the tunnels… you think they are being held in the Tower.” The queen said, cold fury on the edges of her voice.

Anna nodded with a reluctant grimace.

“Tortured for information.” Magdalene said with a grim finality. “We must mount an assault on the Tower. I will not leave our brother and sisters in torment.” Several of the Order growled low in agreement.

“I…wouldn’t do that.” Anna said uneasily. Adam didn’t blame her. The Order looked fit to tear something apart. Anna grimaced as Magdalene glared at her.

“Kit, you’re more familiar with the outer defenses, would you explain it to them?” She said, backing away from the holo-screens.

“Uh, yeah sure.” Kit stuttered, rising and flipping a few of the screens flat, manipulating the images until a small version of the Tower rose beneath his hands.

“So, the Tower was built right before the war turned very ugly, right? At first they felt safe because, hey, they were just trying to work in peace. But neither side liked what they were doing. Nanites were too close to robotic enhancements for the Americans and their allies, and the Chinese thought they could be used for espionage and assassination so both sides took to menacing the Tower. Nerium naturally built defenses in response.”

Kit flicked his wrist at the Tower, bringing the roof into closer focus.

“First thing they added was a comprehensive array of artillery to the roof. They’ve got rockets, machine guns, you name it, it’s up there. The Tower is dotted by balconies all the way down that have mounted guns. Everything is manned at all times. Anything in the sky can be engaged from the Tower, up to and including satellites thanks to the Big Gun.”

He tapped the roof and a large, spindly-looking weapon flashed red.

“It’s a rail gun, capable of reaching past the earth’s atmosphere-”

“And now that we know you can be tracked, if you were to launch an air assault, the rail could pick you off one by one as you flew in.” Anna cut in.

“And if any of you made it close to the Tower, the smaller guns would take you out.” Kit finished. “Assuming you can be killed with guns...”

He looked uncertainly at Anna, who shrugged.

“Only soulless beings can ascend, that is kill, a gargoyle.” Ophir said slowly. “If one of the demons were to man the weapons…”

“They might very well be able to kill us, just as if they used a knife or a sword.” Magdalene said with a growl. “It’s not been done before, but that does not mean it cannot be done. What about ground defenses? Could we take the Tower from the street level?”

“Possibly, but you wouldn’t get very far.” Kit said, flipping the image once more. “The ground floor _is_ less defended, mainly because it’s the public space for the citadel. The lobby if you will. So yes, you could conceivably take the ground floor but there is little of consequence there. You could take it but then whatever forces they have _outside_ the Tower would bottleneck you in and you’d have the same scenario; being picked off one by one.”

“But what if we-” Leonore began desperately when Anna held up her hands.

“Look, this is all kind of a moot point.” She said as gently as she possibly could. “We can talk battle strategies until we’re blue in the face but the fact is, they mean nothing because we are missing several crucial pieces of information. We have no idea what the demons are actually planning, or what they are capable of at this juncture. They’ve had your people in captivity for several months now, they could have found a whole slew of ways to eliminate your Order before you even got close to the Tower, and I’m not talking guns.” She bit her lip as she looked over the Order.

“How do you know this wasn’t their plan all along? Just to lure several of you in to get the rest of you? You said they could be building another army and that’s likely, but they could be planning to wipe you out before starting their war campaigns. They have your people alive and they could be experimenting on them as we speak, figuring out a way to kill you all quietly without losing any of their own. You told me they lost a ton of fighters in the attack on Wessex, maybe they got smarter about their warfare. Point is, we don’t know yet, and if we don’t know the only thing you’ll do by mounting any attack is getting more of you killed and captured.”

Silence fell over the assembly. Adam could feel the hope that had been so present when Anna had offered her assistance draining out of the room, leaving a stifling vacuum. He hadn’t even considered the possibility that the Order could be killed outside of direct attack, and he doubted Leonore and Magdalene had thought of it either. It was a dangerous oversight for all of them to make.

Anna sighed.

“I don’t want to kill your hope, I truly don’t. But I wanted to make sure you understood the basic gravity of what you’re attempting to do. I have a plan to get the information you, and I, need, but it is extremely dangerous and no one in this room is going to like it.” Anna met Adam’s eyes briefly.

“But it is the only option we have, if you want into the Tower.”

No one spoke. Then, slowly, as if struggling with a heavy weight Leonore asked the question everyone was thinking.

“How do you propose to breach the Tower?”

The doctor sat tiredly on the sofa and crossed her legs.

“By walking through the front door.” She said, flashing the room a grim smile.

“Excuse me?” Kit replied. “How is that even close to a good idea?”

Anna picked her fingernails and didn’t look at him.

“I’m the daughter of the CEO, Raymond Desormeaux. They’ll let me in. Hell they’ll roll out the red carpet if I play this right.”

Kit blinked at her, then put a hand to his forehead.

“Yeah… yeah they would.” He said. Anna looked surprised.

“I…expected you to be a little more taken aback by that revelation.” She said.

The boy snorted.

“And I expected you to age a little after ten years.” He quipped back at her. They considered each other for a moment.

“You already knew.” Anna stated, sounding slightly disappointed. Kit shrugged.

“I did my research, it made sense. But ah….” He broke into a wide smile. “I don’t tell anybody’s story for them.” He winked at her. “Thanks for confirming though.”

For a moment, Anna’s face relaxed and matched his smile. A cold, green jealousy snapped in the embers of Adam’s psyche and he bit his tongue. How would this help them into the Tower?

“What does this have to do with getting into the Tower?” Magdalene asked harshly, unwittingly giving voice to Adam’s own thoughts.

“I’m getting to that. I assumed the identity of a friend of mine who… didn’t survive the war.” Anna said. “I... had a falling out with Nerium and joined up to spite…the company.” A dark look passed over her eyes. “When the dust of the war settled, I wanted very little to do with Nerium. So I bequeathed my assets to Anna Hui and took up residence here under her name and lived in relative peace until _some_ body fell through my window.” She shot a look at Adam, who did not respond.

“But if you’re technically dead, how will the Tower guards allow you access? Surely they’re going to think you’re lying.” Keziah cut in.

“Thing about the war is, it got so chaotic towards the end with so many governments crumbling that a lot of people who were initially listed as ‘missing in action’ got switched to ‘deceased’ after only a few years because no one had the resources to look for them anymore. People get discovered alive every day. So it’s not entirely outside the realm of possibility that I’d come back.”

“After fifty years?” Adam asked, incredulous.

Anna hesitated.

“Yes…” She said slowly. “It’s complicated, but yes, still not unheard of. They do a DNA confirmation and they’ll have no choice but to let me in.”

Dissatisfied with her answer, Adam scowled. The embers of his unanswered questions were beginning to rankle him again and he quashed them as best he could.

“Raymond Desormeaux’s daughter was declared dead after the war.” Kit said, his annoyance at the interruption clear on his face. “His control of the company would have shifted to her after he died, as per his public will. As it stands, members of the board have superficial control of the company until such time as Desormeaux’s biological heir can be located. It might not be too out of the ordinary, but if she shows up again, it’d throw the whole Tower into a frenzy.”

“And give you exactly the distraction you need to get into the Tower unseen. Well… mostly unseen. What I’m proposing is a very dangerous sleight of hand.” Anna said. “Essentially, I’m taking a small group of people into the Tower in my shadow. Everyone in the Tower, including anyone high-ranking, will be looking at me, not your people. I can get us to where I think the answers to our questions lie and your soldiers, in their human form, can steal them. ”

“She’s putting herself in the line of fire, in case you needed that clarified.” Kit said, fixing Leonore in particular with a scathing look.

“Kit.” Anna growled a warning. The boy huffed and crossed his arms.

“I can’t promise this won’t be very dangerous.” Anna said, meeting Leonore’s eyes. “But I don’t intend to let more of your people get captured, your Highness. We’ll get in, get what we need and get out. On paper, very simple.”

“On paper...” Leonore repeated uncertainly, but her eyes bore a thoughtful hope. “How will you hide the shadows our people cast?”

“A fake heat signature.” Cortana dropped from the ceiling to hover at Adam’s shoulder, making Keziah jump. “It should be easy enough to generate if I have only two or three to work with. Each person wears a miniature hologram projector that will distort any infrared sensors. You’ll look human in multiple filters.”

“And stealing the information? I understand paper is not the human’s record-keeping device of choice anymore.” Magdalene cut in. Her expression had changed from one of incredulity to one of begrudging respect as she had listen to Anna outline her plan. Adam noted this with a strange satisfaction on behalf of his friend. He was impressed himself, if unsettled by how willing Anna was to throw herself into their conflict.

“I’m going to bug the lab. Or rather, your soldiers will while I make a nuisance of myself. There are any number of clever little devices we can set loose in the labs that will collect information for us by tapping into the wireless streams. I can’t access anything from off the Tower campus, but from inside? I can download and send myself the entire data archive if I wanted, which I just might. All your people will have to do is casually drop a few bugs in the right places and we’ll have everything we need.”

“Then I can go through it and pick out the relevant data.” Cortana added. “Within a few hours we could piece together their whole plan.”

“Just enough time for them to realize what we’ve done and rally an attack.” One of the Order piped up. Several of the others murmured an agreement. To Adam’s surprise, Anna smiled and Kit chuckled darkly.

“Then we’ll just have to give them something to keep them busy.” The boy said, a gleefully dark look on his face.

“Leave that to me.” Anna said, her eyes turning darkly mischievous. Cortana shuddered.

“So… question is, who do you want to send in?” Anna asked Leonore. “Who can blend in with a human crowd?”

“Of the force we have left?” Leonore said thoughtfully. “Eli was the next soldier we would have sent into the Tower, he will join you.”

“I could go.” Keziah said quietly. “I’ve walked among humans before.”

Ophir stiffened where he sat on the arm of the sofa, but he said nothing. Adam felt a stab of pity for his adopted brother-in-arms. Leonore considered Keziah for a moment.

“Yes… I think you would do as well.” Leonore agreed.

“That leaves me and Adam. If you still insist on going?” Anna asked, turning to him. Adam shifted uncomfortably, an anxious realization rising in him.

“I… I’m not good in a crowd,” He admitted reluctantly. “I don’t blend in easily, I …may not be the best person for this...”

He trailed off, feeling like a coward. Anna, however, smiled encouragingly.

“The gargoyles need to blend in, Adam. You and me on the other hand? That’s a whole different story.” Anna said. “We need something to draw people’s attention and honey, we’re the ticket. I could do it alone, but having you there will up the ante quite considerably. You and I will keep every eye off the gargoyles. I promise you, Adam, you are perfect for what I have in mind. Trust me.”

The hopeful smile she sent him dazzled him and Adam fell silent, nodding and dropped his eyes.

“This is where I come in, yeah?” Kit piped up, bouncing slightly on the sofa cushions.

“Exactly. You know what we’re going to need?” Anna asked him.

“Oh yes.” Kit winked again. “Send me measurements and I’ll take care of the rest. Do you need hardware? I have a dealer in the citadel police dump, he can get you some weapons.”

Anna hesitated.

“We’re not going in to fight, if everything plays out like I want it to. The other guys are armed already. I can work with what I have. How long will it take you to get everything together?”

“Three days, tops.”

“Groovy.” Anna said dryly, turning once again to the Order. “Unless you guys think it should be sooner, I’d say meet back here in three days. I know you’re generally partial to the night, but this has to go down in the middle of the day, when there will be a mass of humans in the Tower. I have a feeling the demons will be very hesitant to expose themselves if they can avoid it.”

Magdalene nodded.

“They will not risk it, I think your advice prudent. I… confess myself impressed. I do believe this might be possible after all.” She said with an amount of grace Adam did not think she possessed. Anna inclined her head but refrained from commenting, although Adam could tell she wanted to.

“Then we return in three days.” Leonore said, rising. “Adam, will you remain, again?”

Unconsciously Adam looked down at Kennedy, who had fallen asleep against his chest. He nodded up at Leonore, who gave him a very strange smile that he had never seen before.

Magdalene signaled the Order and they moved, again as one, to the balcony and into the deepening night. Anna followed them slowly, standing on the balcony and looking thoughtfully out over the city and the Tower. Feeling a little trapped, Adam remained where he was, unsure whether he should wake Kennedy or not. With an easy smile Kit rose, crossing to him.

“Here, I’ve got her.” The boy said and gently lifted Kennedy from Adam’s lap. Kennedy whimpered in her sleep, but curled her arms around Kit’s neck and stilled, returning once more to her dreams.

“I’ve got a sister her age.” Kit said softly at Adam’s questioning look. “I’m used to it.”

He carried the girl into Anna’s room, leaving Adam and Anna alone with their thoughts.

Adam stood and rubbed his legs were they had fallen asleep, moving almost without realizing it towards Anna where she lingered on the balcony. Her nails were digging into her shoulder as she kept silent vigil over the Tower. The sight sent a wave of sad anger through Adam and feeling bold he covered her hand with his. Anna inclined her head but didn’t look at him. To Adam’s quiet delight she didn’t shake his hand off. They stood in silence for several minutes, the Tower’s glow pulsing over them.

“You aren’t going to tell me I don’t have to do this, are you?” Anna finally asked him, sounding weary. The question surprised Adam, and he took a moment before answering.

“No.” He replied. Anna turned, facing him with the unspoken ‘why’ bright in her eyes.

“I know what you’re looking for in there. You want answers for…” Adam he trailed off, unsure of how to say it. Finally he tapped her right shoulder with his fingers, but left the rest unsaid. “Believe me I understand the need to know. It’s…” He hesitated, but only for a second. “It was something I needed too, a long time ago. I… didn’t find what I thought I would when I went looking for answers. But I still needed to look.”

“Cortana thinks I’m being foolish.” Anna said, her voice tight. “Reckless is the word she used, actually.”

“She’s not wrong. It is.” Adam agreed. “Very. But why should that make it not something you need to do?”

Anna sighed and turned away from him again, her gaze on the Tower, her fingers once more finding their holds in her shoulder. Adam stepped forward and gently pried her hand away, suddenly wanting to say a million different things and having very few words.

“Foolish, human arrogance was all that was to blame for my creation.” He finally managed to say. “If something… _more_ is responsible for you being here right now… I’m finding it increasingly difficult to consider it a bad thing.”

A glimmer of a smile ghosted across Anna’s face.

“Surprisingly… so am I as of late… But…”

“You need to know.” Adam finished for her. “I’ll help you. However I can, I will help you, Anna.”

Her face clouded.

“Oh. That’s the other thing… my name isn’t really Anna.”

“What is it?”

“….Its Elizabeth.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello everyone! Another chapter, another update! And in less than a week! Go me!
> 
> So, cards on the table, I almost didn't want to post this chapter yet. The last one felt like such an expositiony mess that I really wanted to give you guys some action. I almost just waited until I could post an extra-long chapter with this AND the next part that I have planned.   
> But in the end, it felt right to end the chapter where I have, and I hope the drama that's unfolding is enough to carry you to next week when the shit really hits the fan and I make some very beloved characters bleed a little for your amusement. (I'm almost entirely joking)  
> As always, thanks for reading and enjoy!

For an instant he almost ripped his hand away from her. For a moment instead of her hand underneath his he felt a throat, and the last choked breath flowing through it. He saw the wide, frightened eyes of Frankenstein’s wife. For a moment the world clouded and his soul tremored.

And then it cleared. As quickly as it had come, the sensation was gone. It was a dull, river-stone memory rolling back into the recesses of his mind.

There was no whisper from Terra, no advice or cautions. He thought about it long after they left the balcony, lying on his back staring at the ceiling from his bed. It hadn’t surprised him that the name brought up the memory. What surprised him is that the name had also driven it _back_.

It was a chink in the wall of Anna’s defense, a small open point in her armor. He shook his head; no it wasn’t a chink, that was too accidental. She had told him her real name deliberately, not because she had to but because she wanted to. Because she trusted him. And Adam hadn’t realized at the time how much that would mean. But it drove back the memory of the murder, the cruelty of what he had been in the furious passion of his youth. It didn’t erase it, didn’t excuse it. But it put the memory back in the past where it belonged.

 _That_ was the difference in his feelings for Terra. Terra had tried to forgive him for what he was, for what he had done. “You’re only a monster if you act like one.” She had said, shying from his declaration that he would have gladly killed his father. She had tried to convince him he was beyond that. Anna made no excuses for what he had done. After seeing the way she had descended the demons, the unbridled angry joy that had crossed her face, he began so wonder if she wasn’t guilty of sins similar to his. Then again, he considered, most humans were since the war. Terra had been an angel he had reached for; Anna was beside him walking forward.

So he thought.

Being immortal, the days seemed to go by much more quickly for Adam, save for the three after Anna had related her plan to the Order. They crawled agonizingly by and each day Anna became more and more agitated. She drew away from him and surprisingly from Kennedy as well. The clinic had not opened since the day of the demon’s attack, though Cortana informed him that there had been many people who had tried to gain access to the building.

Anna had shut everything down. She spent the days prior to their agreed-upon time glued to any number of holographic screens, her brows knitted in concentration. Images of the Tower flashed across the screens, schematics, lists, diagrams. She appeared to be trying to memorize every piece of information about the Tower from the fifty or so years that she had been hidden away from the world. It took him a while to realize it, but Anna was preparing for war.

It was beginning to worry Adam, and Cortana was outright frightened. To his great surprise both the AI and Kennedy came to him for comfort, despite his complete lack of faith in his ability to do so. Kennedy merely drew close to him whenever he was in the room, not so much asking as taking the comfort she wanted; to sit on his lap, for instance, or hold his hand while he watched Anna scroll through holo-screens at lightning spend. Adam found surprisingly easy to respond to her. He at least understood the basic need of touch, to have something to hold onto; it had been something he had always desperately wanted and always been denied. He felt all too happy to be able to give this type of comfort, clumsy though he was.

Cortana, on the other hand, was an absolute mess. For all her claims of being only a machine she had a surprising depth of emotion, deeper than Adam had yet seen. And all she wanted to do was _talk_. This Adam felt less comfortable with, but he listened as best he could, and Cortana did seem happier after she had spent an hour simply listing the things she was worried about and all their implications. She spoke to him in quiet whispers after Anna finally went to bed, her knees pulled up under her chin as she sat outside his room.

“I’ve only seen her like this once, a very long time ago.” She said, her voice trembling. “She searched for Anna, the _real_ Anna, for more than a year before taking her identity. Chief was obsessed. I think she felt partially to blame for her friend’s death; Anna Hui was reluctant to join the war and really only did because of Elizabeth Desormeaux.”

Since the change in Anna’s behavior, Cortana seemed to throw caution to the wind, and Adam had found if he asked her the right questions she was all too willing (or to upset to notice she was) to talk.

“Do you think that’s why she’s acting like this now?” Adam asked her gruffly. “Does she… blame herself for the demons infesting Nerium?”

“Maybe.” Cortana said with a helpless shrug. “It could be that. Mainly I think she wants to know if they had anything to do with her being resuscitated. It wasn’t easy to bring her back, by all accounts.”

“How did they bring her back?” Adam asked, a little too eagerly. Cortana immediately shut her mouth.

“Not my place to tell.” She said, the old obstinacy flashing in her eyes. Then she softened. “I’m sorry, Adam. I know what it must mean to you. I mean I think I do; I know what it meant to Anna to find somebody that could… relate. But she’s the one who’s got to tell you, it won’t be the same coming from me. I can’t… I can’t make you understand how painful it was, or why. She can. Just… get her though this and I think you’ll get the answers you want.”

“ _If_ I can get her through this.” Adam replied sullenly. “Can she really do it? I mean; will her walking back into Nerium after all this time really work?”

Cortana nodded without hesitation.

“Oh yes. She’s absolutely right about that part.” She frowned, not looking at Adam.

“But…?” He prompted. Cortana sighed.

“For all Anna’s hatred of the Tower, and Nerium, and her father there are, or were, people that she cared about in there. It’s been fifty years… I’m more worried about what she’ll find in that respect than any attack the demons might dare to launch in the middle of the day.”

A brief but very painful memory of Terra, her hair white and her eyes sunken and heavy flashed across Adam’s memory and he understood instantly what Cortana was getting at.

“You don’t think anyone Anna knew would have…passed by now?” He asked the AI as gently as he could. Natural death being so far out of his reach, he sometimes forgot that it was a constant fear for normal humans. He had, in the past, been rather tactless in speaking of it. To his surprise, Cortana gave him an infuriatingly superior look.

“Anna’s in her seventies and she looks like she’s still twenty-five. The technology that does that to her was never widely available, but humanity has made advances, especially Nerium. The technology they possess could mean Anna might come across old friend who haven’t aged a day either. I don’t know what she’ll come up against in there, but dead or alive her old friends are going to be difficult to face. What would be worse?” The AI asked suddenly, her attitude changing. “To find your loved ones old and grey, possible having forgotten you, or to find them young and healthy and have to fight them?”

Adam shook his head; he had only experienced one and it had torn him apart. He did not want to think about the alternative.

The Order arrived early on the morning of the appointed day, flying in while the city was still in shadow and alighting gracefully on the balcony. Adam had already been awake for hours and greeted them solemnly as Cortana pulled back the accordion doors. The morning air was surprisingly heavy and dry; dust storm season was around the corner. In the murky light Nerium Tower seemed to mock Adam.

‘Come get me’ it’s pulsing blue light chanted. ‘Come and try.’

Adam turned away, shutting the doors firmly behind him. To his surprise and chagrin both Leonore and Magdalene had accompanied his fellow infiltrators and now stood uncomfortably in Anna’s flat, their bodies tense with dissatisfaction. Although they had agreed to the plan, neither of them liked it according to Keziah. He suspected they had arrived early to tell him as much. Adam did his best to ignore them, busying himself instead with locating and preparing breakfast in the kitchen. Anna had not been eating well. Ophir and a few others had accompanied the queen as her vanguard. Adam’s friend stood near the kitchen, an equal distance between his friend and Keziah, his arms crossed over his chest. He, too, looked unhappy and Adam knew without asking that he and Keziah had fought about her volunteering. He felt a small cloud of guilt try and work its way into his mind; he was secretly very glad to have Keziah going with them. He could trust her to watch his back while he watched Anna’s. He could not say that of much of the Order.

It was not too much longer after the Order landed that Kit burst through the door, several boxes stacked in his hands.

“Everybody doing well then?” He asked, a roguish smile on his face as he surveyed the quiet band of gargoyles. He dropped the boxes with a huff just as Anna emerged from her room, her hair wild and unkempt.

“Morning, Kit.” She said, giving the queen and her second a deferential nod. The doctor paused as she looked over the boxes Kit had brought and chewed her lip.

It felt like the calm before the storm. Adam put down the plate he had been carrying and watched as uncertainty washed over Anna’s face. He felt a stab of pity; he knew what must be going through her head, the wondering if it was worth knowing, or better to stay hidden and in the dark.

But a cold, bitter resolution settled in Anna’s features and she nodded to herself, tearing open the first box with fierce relish, lifting a ruffled white blouse from inside.

“Perfect,” She said, more to herself than to Kit who had sidled up to her with a grim smile.

“Thought you’d like it. Wait ‘til you see the shoes I found you.” Kit said, his voice forcefully light. The boy caught Adam’s eyes across the room with a meaningful look and nodded. Anna and Kit had been in almost constant contact in the past three days of preparations. He had seen in an instant Anna’s state of mind, he had been trying to bring her out of it. Adam was grateful for his help; he had no idea how to do anything like that.

“Anthony Alexievich Kittredge.” Anna’s voice cut through their shared moment.

A deep purple lacey something was dangling from her fingers, and she eyed the boy with a mixture of frustration and confusion. Kit’s roguish smile returned, and this time it was not so forced.

“I didn’t know what exactly you’d have on hand, so I improvised.” He said with a smile. Anna did not return the smile.

“You brought me purple lace to wear under a white top?” She said, her voice verging on harsh. Kit’s smile faltered.

“Well it’d definitely make an impression.” He said weakly. Anna tossed the brassier back into the box with something like disgust playing over her face. Kit’s smile vanished entirely as she hefted the box and began stalking back into her room.

“Anna,” Adam called after her. He unceremoniously shoved a plate loaded with a reheated sandwich towards her.

“You have to eat something.”

For a moment he was afraid she would argue. Then she gave an exasperated sigh and bit into the sandwich, her face changing as she realized how hungry she was. Without a word of thanks she shut herself into her room.

Kit whistled low. He was in the process of handing the second box off to Eli, a blond, somewhat mousey-looking gargoyle.

“Let me know if you need help figure out what belongs to who.” He called over his shoulder as he crossed with the final box to Adam.

“I believe I am capable of telling the difference between pants and skirts, thank you.” Keziah said in an undertone as she rifled through the box. In spite of the tension in the air, Adam felt tempted to smile.

Kit joined him, looking towards Anna’s room with a cloudy expression.

“I did that on purpose, the purple bra.” He murmured to Adam. “She should have given me hell for it. She didn’t even…” He trailed of a shook his head, suddenly fixing Adam with a concerned, open look that made him seem closer to Kennedy’s age than almost a man grown.

“You’ll watch her, won’t you?” He said quietly. “You’ll bring her back?”

Adam looked the boy over.

“You care about her a great deal.” Adam said abruptly, not certain if he was curious or jealous. Kit shrugged

“I’ve known her for almost ten years. She saved my life after my grandparents smuggled me out of the citadel…” He met Adam’s eyes, suddenly a little afraid. He twisted his head to look at the gargoyles, who were effectively distracted bye the box he had brought. The boy turned back to Adam and drew a small metal device out of his pocket. It looked like a small pen, one end clear plastic covering a small suction cup, the other a handle. He uncapped the clear end and pressed it to his right eye. Adam shuddered as a layer of wet glass separated from Kit’s eye with a small pop.

Kit’s eye was robotic. The glass half-sphere in his hand was an effective disguise, painted or modeled to look like a real eye. Underneath it, the eye itself was metal, whirling and ticking to itself as Kit focused on Adam’s expression.

“Cancer,” Kit said, answering a question Adam hadn’t asked. “My parents couldn’t afford the treatments in the Tower, so my grandparents got me out of the city and to Anna. I nearly died, and they got banished. She’s been taking care of us ever since. So yeah, I care about Anna.” He pressed the scleral back over the faint glow of his mechanical optics and gave Adam a wry smile.

“S’the only reason I’m not going in with her, ya know. The have ‘bot detectors at every door in the Tower. I’d be in jail and on my way to a pretty quick end if I tried to get in there.” He blinked and rubbed his pupil with the tip of his finger; his whole eye moved with it.

He handed Adam the box that contained the disguise Anna had requested for him.

“I know she saved your life, and I know you’ve got beef with that Naberius guy and the demons. But if it gets hot in there, get her out. For all our sakes, get her out.”

Adam nodded, a new respect for the boy quickly growing in him. Kit gave another lopsided smile and returned to the gargoyles, immediately beginning to chat cheekily with the queen, who seemed utterly at a loss as to how to respond. Adam left them alone, choosing to change in the solace of his room.

As soon as he touched the material of the clothes he had been given, he knew Kit had been the right person for Anna to put on the job. The button-up shirt and pants Kit had provided him were incredibly soft, high-quality material. He was afraid at first that he would find them constricting, but they moved as he did, stretching as he practiced a quick sprint from one end of the room to the other. The pants were tighter than he was used to, but not entirely unbearable. They were, in fact, exactly the type of clothing he could imagine a bodyguard to a rich family would wear; fine looking but he would be able to fight if he needed to.

The outfit was stark; the shirt white, the pants black, but what unashamedly excited Adam was the long heavy coat that was folded at the bottom of the box and the brand new black boots it hid underneath. He was never wearing his old coat again, he admitted to himself as he shrugged into the charcoal-grey garment. It fit him perfectly and he made a mental note to thank Cortana, who had scanned the infiltrators for their measurements. It, too, allowed him flexibility of movement as he swung his kali experimentally. Kit had even seen to it that there was a pocket long enough to conceal his kali in the interior of the coat. The boots were better than anything Adam had ever worn on his feet, at the same time incredibly tough and cushioned, managing to be something he could see himself walking miles in and that looked admittedly sharp. He cast a critical eye on the ages-old hiking boots he had acquired twenty-odd years ago as they rested forlornly in his closet. There was even a belt with a silver clasp and a deep azure tie; the only piece of color Kit had allowed him. There was a comb in the bottom of the box and a small tube of hair gel. Adam did his best to smooth out his hair with the comb, but avoided the gel, letting his hair fall where it would.

Never having been afforded nice clothing, Adam suddenly felt the insane desire to look at himself in a mirror. It was an incredibly uncharacteristic feeling and Adam rolled it around in his head tentatively. The tie he wound around his hand, completely at a loss with it. He rose and made his way downstairs feeling very shy, pausing as he caught sight of Kennedy crouched by Anna’s door. She had eased it open a crack, the light from within falling over her face, and was peeking in, an expression of quiet amazement on her face. She looked up at Adam as he neared the bottom of the stairs and beckoned to him.

“I can hear you both out there, you might as well come in. I’m decent.” Anna’s voice called from behind the sliding door. Adam smiled wryly at Kennedy as he draped the coat over the railing of the stairs and pushed the door open just wide enough for the girl to clamor inside on her hands and knees. Adam followed her with his eyes, and small smile ghosting over his face as she climbed onto Anna’s bed. He lifted them to the source of the light and froze, his mouth falling unconsciously open.

Anna had transformed. It had nothing to do with the copper and coal smudged around her eyes, nor the deep wine-colored stain she was applying to her lips or the carefully polished, crafted smoothness of her dark skin. There was an arch to her neck that hadn’t been there before, a haughtiness he recognized from the holo-video she had played for them days (maybe years) ago. The heels Kit had mentioned made her at least three inches taller; sharp, dangerous-looking things adorned in tiny gold spikes that caught the light like deadly fireflies. Her ruddy hair spilled around her shoulders in artfully careless, tight curls which she tossed as she straightened, her eyes flashing dangerously in the light from the mirror. But, as always her jacket covered her torso and arms, the casual comfy-ness of it throwing the crisp image off slightly, as if it was merely laid on top of, not part of the scene before him.

It wasn’t quite confidence that had changed her. It was something darker, a purpose she hadn’t given voice to before that suddenly was burning out of Anna with an intensity Adam had only even seen from the demons or gargoyles when they were fighting. Anna met Adams eyes and he very nearly took a step back. Then she smiled and she was Anna again, the tension in her body unable to erase her fully.

“So, how’d Kit do?” She asked. Adam widened the gap in the door and stepped through, feeling more self-conscious than he ever had as he approached where she stood at the mirror. His earlier desire to see himself fled; he feared the clothes would only make his skin and scars stand out in stark relief.

Anna’s eyes, however, widened.

“He did amazing,” She said a little breathlessly, looking Adam over while he resisted the urge to squirm under her gaze. She met his eyes again, her smile genuine, but her gaze clouded and guarded.

“You definitely look the part. And… you clean up pretty well, Frankenstein.” She said, a little embarrassed. Unsure of how to respond, Adam held to tie out to her.

“I have no idea how to…” He said. Anna laughed and took it from him.

“I do, hold still.” She draped the tie over her arm and reached up, popping the collar of Adam’s shirt and looping the garment around his neck. Adam couldn’t take his eyes off her, thought she didn’t seem to notice. She began a complicated series of loops with the tie, her brow knitting in confusion. She undid and then restarted the knots before groaning in frustration. A smile twitched the corners of Adam’s mouth. She looked at him with narrowed eyes.

“Oh shut up.” She said, taking him by the arm and dragging him to the chair in front of the mirror.

“Sit.” She said, pressing down on his shoulders until he obeyed. He pointedly ignored the image in the mirror, until Anna surprised him by bringing her arms around his neck, picking up the abandoned ends of the tie and returning once again to her task.

Adam’s hands flew to the arms on the chair, gripping them as hard as he could without breaking them. It was not a motion Anna could have missed, but she made no comment, only a subtle upturn of her lips told him she had seen it. She was so close he could hear her breathing while his own breath seemed lodged in his throat. This close, he could smell her hair; there was a flowery scent falling all around him as stray strands brushed against his neck. He kept his eyes very carefully focused on his lap, trying very hard not to think about how her lips would brush his cheek if she turned her head.

It seemed like hours later that she pulled the knot up to his neck, flipping the collar of the shirt over it.

“Done.” She looked down at him as he continued his intense study of his pants. For the hundredth time since he had met her, Anna tapped his head.

“What do you think, you nerd?” she asked him. Reluctantly Adam raised his eyes to the mirror.

“Oh my God…” He whispered, his mind temporarily focused entirely ahead of him.

His fears had been completely unfounded. His scars and mottled skin looked no different, no worse, than they ever had. Under the bright light of Anna’s vanity, the scars should have stood out, been utterly apparent, his monstrosity totally on display. But the longer he looked at himself he realized…

“I look almost…human.” He ground out in awe. Anna’s hands were still on his shoulders, but for once her touch could not distract him. It was so alien, to see his own reflection and not want to break the glass. How many years had it been since he had actually looked? Had time faded the scars or was his memory of them so extreme that seeing them again was like a child revisiting something that had once frightened them and finding it small and insignificant? He was sitting on the edge of the seat now, having forgone his death grip on the chair to touch his own face as if to assure him that he was still looking at himself.

“It’s surprisingly easy to hide, isn’t it?” Anna asked him quietly, the tone of her voice jolting him out of his reverie. She was looking at his reflection in the mirror, a sad expression on her face. He met her eyes in the glass and she attempted to smile.

“To look human.” She said. She walked towards the mirror, staring at herself. “To pretend that what you are is only on the surface and covering it up will make you less…” She trailed off, but the word ‘monstrous’ danced in the air between them as if she had screamed it at the top of her lungs. Adam’s stomach suddenly tightened as the air in the room changed into something thick and very tense. Very slowly Anna’s hands crept to the zipper at her throat, pulling until the jacket opened and slid off her shoulders.

Adam inhaled sharply, finally seeing what she had been hiding for years.

Her right arm was entirely criss crossed with scars. Not like his, random and almost thoughtless, but organized into patchwork squares, each an almost entirely different color from the rest, no two the same exact shape or size. The skin look thin and stretched, like it had been too small in places and had been pulled over her muscles and made to work. They were surgically placed, without a doubt, the tiny white dots along each line showing plainly where she had been stitched together. The scars ran under the ruffled blouse Kit had acquired for her, and at the nape of her neck Adam saw for the first time a line of scarring that had always been hidden away behind her jacket.

‘He pulled me out of the incinerator,’ wasn’t that what she had said? ‘ _what was left of me_.’

How far did the scars go? Across her torso? Her leg? Adam wrenched his thoughts away from that rabbit hole and focused on Anna’s face.

She was wearing an expression he found painfully familiar, her nails digging into her forearm as she stared at herself. It was a look that very plainly said she was an alien in the skin she wore. A memory floated to him from centuries before, one of the first times he had looked at himself after being chased out of another small village in a hail of stones and sticks.

“This is not my body,” He had raged. “And I _hate_ it!”

Anna gripped her arm as if she wanted to tear it off, fury and pain brimming in her eyes. Oh yes, Adam remembered that feeling very well.

“Anna,” Kennedy said quietly from the bed. “There’s a sweater in this box. It has sleeves.”

For a moment, Anna looked as though she wanted nothing more than to bolt to that piece of fabric, cocooning herself in it and disappearing from herself once more. But she resisted, her face working as she did.

“No.” She finally hissed, more to herself than to either of them. “If I do, I’ll be hiding. I can’t start this whole thing off hiding.”

She stared at herself in the mirror for while longer, slowly mastering herself.

“Adam,” Anna said, turning so suddenly to him that he started. “Adam I…” She stopped, taking a deep breath. He waited for her, his eyes flicking to where her nails were digging trenches in her scarred flesh.

“Adam, the person that I was when I lived in the Tower… I wasn’t good. I was horrible, in fact. And… in order to pull this off, I have to be that person again. I’m… I’m not that woman anymore.” She twisted her scars beneath her hand. “Quite literally, in point of fact. But I… You’re going to see me as I was before the war before…this. And I… can you… I want you to, to understand I’m not her anymore… forgive me for…” She trailed off, the words seeming to hurt her.

Adam blinked as Anna cast her eyes away from him, her teeth grinding behind her perfectly painted lips and suddenly he saw everything that she had put on, the act she was going to play out, and the real fear beneath it. Anna was terrified of this.

“You…want me to forgive you for who you were…before?” he asked, straightening in the chair. The question mystified and worried him, until he realized he had asked Terra the same question, albeit in a roundabout way. He had shoved what he was in her face and dared her to stay. Anna was asking him to stay before even showing him the monster she thought she was. He thought back to his feeling when she told him her real name; that she did not excuse his actions but met him where he was and accepted. He wondered if she felt that she had forgiven him for what he had done, and suddenly realized he knew the answer to the question she was asking him.

He suddenly couldn’t bare the sight of her hurting herself anymore and firmly grasped her unscarred hand, his fingers brushing against the scars on her forearm. Anna flinched violently away, but he held fast. Carefully Adam pried her left hand away, letting it fall limply to her side, and ran his thumb over the half-moon shapes she had left in her right arm. Anna stared down at him in a mixture of horror and fascination. He kept his gaze on where his hands met her scars, knowing he was about to make her angry, but wanting to be truthful if nothing else.

“I… can’t forgive without know what I’m forgiving, Anna. You know everything that I’ve done and that I’m guilty of, you knew long before I was even conscious. I _don’t_ know. And…I don’t think it’s _my_ forgiveness you need.” Adam said slowly, his own experiences from the past threatening to spill out of his mouth; his acceptance of his father’s name, of his own flesh. Terra. He held them in, however, feeling suddenly that this was not the time. This was her move, now.

He risked a glance at Anna. His answer had not been what she wanted to hear and she looked furious, hurt. Mild panic struggled in Adam’s brain.

“If it is any consolation, I know who you are _now_. So do Kit and Kennedy, and any number of others you’ve saved. I know a thing or two about atoning for sins of the past. _And you’re only a monster if you behave like one_.”

Adam hadn’t expected the last to leap from his mouth, and for a moment he swore he heard it in Terra’s voice. Anna’s eyes flashed like grey fire and she pulled her arm from his grasp. The haughty arch returned to her posture, and for the first time Adam felt her looking down at him, even though their positions hadn’t changed. The anger and hurt flared a moment longer in Anna’s eyes, and then like a light being snuffed out it was gone. She shuttered herself from him completely, and Adam almost physically felt her push him away.

“We need to get moving.” Anna said, her voice as hard as steel. She cast one more glance at herself in the mirror, carefully not looking at her mangled arm, before stalking out of the room and sliding the door shut behind her with too much force.

Adam shut his eyes against the light, letting his head fall back. He felt drained, as if he had just done battle, a hollow place opening in his heart. It would have done no good to do lip service to her, he told himself. It would not have helped her, just as it had not helped him for Leonore to tell him he was welcome in the Order all those years ago. But the open place that Anna’s anger had left in him ached. He heard the shifting of fabric and was not surprised to feel the pressure of two very small hands against his forearm a moment later. He lifted his head and met Kennedy’s eyes.

“You’re not wrong.” She said in her weirdly soft voice, her eyes intense. “She just isn’t ready to hear it yet.”

Wondering for a brief instant if the child truly understood the scope of the wordless argument she had witnessed, Adam grimaced, not able to hold her gaze. Kennedy tugged on his arm to get his attention.

“She _needs_ you to tell her the truth.” Kennedy insisted. “She’s gotten too used to secrets.”

Adam stared at the girl, amazed at her insightfulness. Kennedy gave a wry non-smile and then went on tiptoe to plant a kiss on Adam’s cheek. He didn’t even flinch, merely accepted the comfort she was capable of giving and rose to his feet, offering her his hand.

“Shall we?” he asked. Kennedy took his hand by way of a silent answer and the two of them walked from the room, she taking three steps to his one, and into the main flat where the rest of the party waited.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys I'm getting so excited. I hope you're getting excited. You should be excited. It's getting exciting.
> 
> As always friends, enjoy!

“I _hate_ cars.” Adam seethed for the twelfth time since they’d left the safety of Anna’s flat. Keziah and Eli looked equally unhappy, both clinging to the seatbelts with white knuckles as Kit took another turn at breakneck speed.

“Relax, Adam.” Anna called from the seat directly behind him. She hadn’t spoken much since stalking out of her room earlier, especially to him. Beyond giving a few clipped instructions to Eli and Keziah she had been tight-lipped. Adam had only the time to whisper quickly to Kennedy, urging her to tell Cortana what had happened before they swept out of the flat, leaving Magdalene and Leonore behind with the girl. Now Anna was staring out of the window, her eyes hidden behind wide sunglasses and her face unreadable. To Adam’s surprise, she seemed totally relaxed when he risked turning his head to look at her, her knees swaying in time with the motion of the car.

Anna fixed him with her black-shade gaze.

“How else would we have gotten in the citadel? Fly?” She asked sarcastically, her attitude more caustic than usual.

Keziah snorted.

“I should be so lucky.” The gargoyle muttered and shifted uncomfortably in the frumpy knee-length skirt Kit had outfitted her in, much to her chagrin. Her feet nudged the bags on the floor as she moved sending a clattering sound through the vehicle. Each was filled to the brim with the small, black beetle-like devices that would snatch the demon’s secrets out of the air and deliver them to Cortana. At least, that’s how Anna had described it at Leonore’s provocation. Adam was certain from the way Kit and Cortana had both eyed the things as Anna had held up a handful that the little machines had a more malicious purpose; what it might be, he had no idea and currently, all his thought was focused on what he might do if Kit flipped this god-forsaken vehicle on its head which seemed likely any minute now.

Kit seemed to be entirely oblivious to the discontent of his passengers, totally absorbed in pushing the surprisingly well cared-for vehicle as fast as it could go. Cars were, as a rule, no longer common outside of the citadels. How Kit had managed to secure one for this venture was entirely beyond Adam, but the boy was certainly more clever than Adam had given him credit for upon first meeting him. He knew next to nothing about cars, but the vehicle was nice enough he thought. Shiny black, clean white covering the chairs and most importantly: it ran. He wondered how it stood up against the human’s appraisal. It’s engine was certainly loud enough (he had always supposed that had something to do with the ranking of such things).

They took another heart stopping turn and walls of the citadel suddenly loomed ahead, gargantuan, stony and forbidding. Adam felt his stomach flutter. He hadn’t been nervous like this in ages; granted, most of his confrontations were easy. Brutal, physical and quick. This was going to be a long day of sneaking around in plain sight and he was woefully unskilled at espionage. Adam turned his head and looked askance at Anna. He was putting an awful lot of trust in her, and old fears were trying their best to resurface. He curled his hands tighter around the handle on the door and fought them back.

For better or for worse, he’d thrown his lot in with her. He’d better not be uncertain now.

Kit applied the brakes a little to heavily and the car screeched to a halt in front of the guardhouse that barred their way to the city. Several guards in severe brown uniforms stared at the vehicle for a few minutes, blinking stupidly before recovering themselves. They moved almost casually into positions around the car, and Adam’s hackles rose but he kept himself very still. Visitors from outside the citadel, especially ones who were driving, were extremely rare. The guards were just doing their job.

“If you wanted to draw attention,” Eli said softly, “We have definitely succeeded.

“Easy.” Anna cautioned, sounding irritatingly calm.

A guard with a gold cord looped over his shoulder approached the driver’s window, a computer pad in his hand. Kit rolled down the window, smiling his best cheeky smile.

“Morning officer. Lovely day.”

‘At least one of us is enjoying this.’ Adam thought, a small trace of fondness floating across his mind. Kit reminded him of Ophir in many ways.

The officer in question frowned down at the boy and held out his hand.

“Identification.” He barked, his voice dripping with suspicion and annoyance.

“Naturally. Sir.” Kit said, drawing the card he and Anna had concocted from his pocket. Adam watched the officer’s hands through the opposing window as the man straightened with the card, swiping it through the pad and taping information into it. The pad squawked angrily.

The guard finally bent slowly at the waist, his face dubious as he glared through the open window at Kit. Adam held his breath; this was what he’d been afraid of.

“Are you lost, kid?” the officer said, his voice deadly quiet. Kit’s smile never wavered.

“Problem officer?” He said and brought his hand underneath his chin, the picture of innocence.

“Well, now… not in the strictest sense. Your card key seems to be out of order.” The officer said, a cool smile spreading over his face.

“Out of order? Gosh golly how could that have happened? We were only gone for a weekend camping trip!” Kit exclaimed in mock-horror. From the back seat Adam heard Anna stifle a giggle, though his heart dropped into his stomach. The man at Kit’s window stared, his eyes trying to pierce the darkened vehicle. He made a small gesture to the other men. The guards took an uneasy step towards the car, their hands falling to their hips where they each sported a very compact weapon that Adam had never seen before. He resisted the urge to fidget, remembering the character Anna had laid out for him to play.

“Camping outside the city?” The officer asked Kit languidly. “Is that the best you’ve got, my friend?”

Kit nodded, leaning out the window on his elbows.

“You mean you don’t believe me?” He asked sweetly.

The guard chuckled, obviously trying to be professional but clearly amused by Kit’s attempts at levity. He stood, his hands on his hips.

“Look, it was a good attempt.” He admitted, “Nice car even. But you’re going to need to drive back to where you came from, son. You know you can’t get into Nerium citadel without identification. _Working_ identification.”

“Showtime.” Anna whispered, rolling down the window nearest to her and throwing her glasses into Keziah’s lap. She grasped the handled above the car door and in one fluid motion pulled herself up through the window, perching on the door. As soon as she appeared the guards surrounding the car stepped forward with their weapons drawn. Then one by one they stepped back, their faces all registering the same shocked expression: recognition. For a moment, nobody moved.

“Hey sweetie?” Anna called to the officer, her voice poisonously sweet. “Would a fingerprint scan do for identification? I’m a little anxious to get home. Been a… long… _long_ weekend camping trip, you know.”

Out of the corner of his eye Adam watched the guards’ faces. Their shock was slowly fading into awe. Two of them put their heads together and began whispering furiously. A very, very tiny glimmer of hope that Adam could barely recognize began to flicker in his mind.

The guard at Kit’s window stared at Anna, unmoving. She reached over and tapped the roof of the car with her nails.

“Come on sweetie, I don’t bite.” She purred.

Adam couldn’t see her face, but the officer began walking very slowly around the front of the car, his eyes wide and his jaw slack. The man seemed mesmerized, and Adam wondering what picture Anna cut in their minds. Finally reaching his destination the officer goggled for a second before taping the pad and holding it wordlessly out to Anna, a bright blue handprint flashing on the screen.

Rather than just place her hand on the mark, Anna put her fingertips on the bottom of the pad and slowly slid them up into place. It was a weirdly seductive gesture, and the officer took a small, uncomfortable step back, his eyes alighting on the scars that crawled up her arm as he swallowed nervously. Adam dropped his eyes to his lap, feeling in equal measure amused and discomfited.

Then the pad beeped, flashing green, and the officer ripped it from under Anna’s touch and held it in front of his eyes as though the neon color was unreadable at arm’s length. As Adam watched, the man’s jaw dropped and his eyes widened until they bugged out of his head. He began to sweat, small wheezing noises escaping from between his lips.

“So sweetie,” Anna said, “How about it? Let a girl come home?”

The officer looked quickly up at her, trying to decide if he had heard her correctly. She leaned on the car and must have flashed him a smile, because he turned on his heel and faced his guards.

“Open the gate.” He choked out. The soldiers had gathered near the front of the car, getting the best view of Anna as they could. Now they stared at their superior, unsure, before moving into position to pull back the massive steel bolts that locked the citadel away from the rest of the world.

Kit threw a saucy salute to the officer and put the car in drive, revving the engine as the gates slide open with a metallic groan. Anna slid back into her seat and recovered her sunglasses, whistling at the officer with the pad.

“Thanks sweetie.” She said. “Good job, gents.” She called as Kit let go of the brake and they shot forward into the huge tunnel through the citadel walls. Kit howled in the echoing din and Anna laughed and rolled up her window.

“Good call with the faulty card, Anna.” Kit said over his shoulder. “They never knew what hit ‘em.”

“You mean you _meant_ for that to happen?” Adam said a little angrily.

“Yup!” Kit crowed happily. “Think they’ll call the Tower?”

“Oh, I _know_ they’ll call the Tower.” Anna said, sounding incredibly self-satisfied. “It doesn’t matter if they know I’m coming. They’ll never be ready for me.”

Adam looked back at Keziah, who looked at surprised and shocked as he felt.

‘I’ll be damned.’ He thought quietly, ‘I’ll be damned this might _actually_ work.’

 

 

 

 

When his eyes finally adjusted from the gloom of the tunnel, Adam couldn’t stifle the audible gasp that leapt from his throat.

Nerium Citadel was like walking into the Garden of Eden after years in the desert, as different from the streets where Anna’s patients lived as a pigsty was from a palace. The streets were spotless, paved in a shimmering pale grey stone that looked as if it had never been travelled on, despite the appearance of several vehicles parked on the street, all equally spotless and all incredibly gilded and polished. And it was lush! The city was lusher and greener than Adam had thought possible in the world anymore. Towering crystal-like houses had lawns spread out like skirts around them, dotted with flowers, bushes and trees. _Trees_. And not simply the kinds he remembered; trees with yellow trunks and magenta leaves, flowers which swayed as if they were dancing to music only they could hear, bushes whose leaves fluttered like seaweed. And the people…

Adam choked suddenly as a hand grabbed the collar of his coat and pulled him back against the seat.

“Stop acting like a tourist, dude.” Anna hissed at him. “Remember what you’re supposed to be? You have to act like you’ve seen this a million times before. You can’t let anything get to you here. _Nothing_. Let them see you falter and we’re done.”  

His feathers ruffled, Adam glared at her and bit back what he wanted to say as she smiled coolly at him. She knew she was being childish, she _must_ know. Adam wondered if she had convinced herself it was part of her act and turned back into his seat, restraining himself from turning his head and looking at everything and anything he could.

“Is this your first time in a citadel, Adam?” Eli asked him from the back seat, surprising all of them. Adam nodded, confused.

“You’ve been in them?”

“Not often, but they to tend to be where the higher ranking demons are concentrated. Mostly we fly over them from time to time.” Eli continued. “They are… eerie. The people there exist in something like a dream. It astounds me how they can live in such luxury while their own kind festers in disease and strife just on the other side of the wall.” His brows knitted over his deep blue eyes and he fell silent for a moment.

“What do you think of it?” the gargoyle asked suddenly. Adam looked the man over. Eli had never been in the contingent of gargoyles that was friendly with him, and Adam was confused as to why he would care about the opinions of ‘the creature’. But Eli looked sincere, and Adam was too enthralled by the city not to answer honestly.

“It looks like the 1890s got into a fist fight with the 1950s’ vision of the future.” Adam finally said as the car rumbled past a group of girls in ankle-length neon pink skirts, shirts with puffed sleeves and hats plumed with chrome feathers.  Kit laughed at his assessment.

“Lot of the citadels are that way. They pick an era they think was the ‘purest’ and then try to live it. All pre-robotics. Some are quite beautiful I understand. I mean, I’ve only seen mine from when I was younger but Anna’s seen loads more.” He turned around, prompting Anna to speak.

“Some.” She said. She was looking out the window again, the corners of her mouth turned down and her eyes unreadable behind the glasses. “Nothings got anything as grand as the Tower, though. And speaking of which…”

They turned a corner and the Tower rose above them, a giant spire of icey-blue. Through the windows hundreds of people moved, working and going about their day. It reminded Adam of a restless, beautiful anthill.

‘Ants bite.’ He reminded himself, his hand straying to the secret pocket where his kali hid, waiting. His small knife Anna was carrying strapped around her left ankle underneath her slacks. Eli and Keziah had hidden their weapons in the pockets of the lab coats Kit had furnished for them, along with the control boxes for the spidery heath-generating wires that Anna had helped them lace through their clothing so they would appear human to the security cameras.

Anna leaned forward and planted a kiss on Kit’s cheek.

“Get someplace safe until I call you, hon. If everything goes the way I want this shouldn’t take more than an hour. They’ll be watching you, so be careful.”

Kit took one hand away from the wheel to press her head to his, ear-to-ear.

“Worry about yourself, Anna, I’ll be fine. Don’t…don’t get lost in there, ok?”

“Babe, I know my way around that Tower better than I do my own house. I saw the current schematics the police had. Nothing’s changed! I’ll be fine.” Anna said with a laugh, sliding back into her seat as the car rumbled to a halt in front of the Tower. Adam and Kit shared a look that told Adam the boy had been thinking the same think; that wasn’t the kind of lost he was talking about.

‘Showtime…’ Adam thought to himself as he fumbled briefly with the car door and settled his face into an unreadable mask of stone, a look he had perfected after centuries of being alone. It did its job and several of the Tower employees who had stopped to peer wonderingly at the car jumped back as he emerged from the vehicle, their silly chromed hats wobbling comically as they froze, mouths agape. Adam resisted the urge to smile and opened the door for Anna like she had told him to do. Anna garnered an even bigger reaction; the whispers and mutterings reaching a level well beyond secretive. Adam was certain he heard the word ‘scars’ at least twelve times.

Anna peeled the sunglasses from her face and eyed the small crowd with an unrepentant smile, no trace of her earlier discomfort in front of the mirror visible. When the others hand joined her standing on the pavement in front of the glass double doors that led into the Tower, she motioned flippantly over her shoulders with her hands and started forward. Adam and the two gargoyles trailed purposefully after her through the blast of cool air that separated the Tower from the outside world, her heels beating out a severe tattoo in the silence their presence garnered.

The lobby was as pristine as Wessex Institute had been centuries before and it occurred to Adam that it bore the same fingerprints; spotless white corridors, too many men in dark suits, and too much fake light. It was not a cheerful place despite the fountain in the middle of the room that trickled jovially. The men in suits glared at their little band as Anna led them across the floor. There were far more than were necessary in this space; the gate guards _had_ called ahead. Adam heard Keziah draw a sharp breath as they passed near a small group of them; there were several demons in the contingent. For a moment he became afraid that they would recognize him, but none of them were looking at him. Indeed, every eye in the room was drawn exclusively to Anna, the demons with a particularly nasty look, several of them forgetting themselves and growling low. The level of ire the demons were leveling at her puzzled Adam, but he had no time to ponder it. His pulse began to pound in his ears as they approached the security desk; the last real obstacle into the Tower.

Anna splayed her fingers once more on the pad that stood before the metal and glass archway that was their door to answers. One again the screen flashed green and she made as if to cross the threshold.

“Ah…miss? Uh, Miss D-Desormeaux?”

Anna stopped mid-stride, calmly turning her head to the young security guard who held the pad. She smiled at him expectantly, a wolfish grin, and the man stuttered.

“Ah miss, I’m so sorry… but ah, um… I can’t let you in just yet.” He said, his face flushing, making the freckles that dotted his cheeks stand out. Anna turned her body towards him, cocking her head to the side slightly; the wolfish smile still in place as she narrowed her eyes at him and waited.

“There’s um… you’ve been gone an awfully long time and its… it’s just that you’ve been, um… You’re declared dead. Um, see?” He held up the pad as evidence. Beneath the flashing green handprint was the word ‘deceased’. Anna clapped her hands together in front of her face, looking coyly at the guard.

“Oh of _course_.” She said. “How stupid of me. You need more verification.” She leaned towards him, a brilliant smile on her lips.

“I’d be happy to comply.” She said, her voice dropping lower. “That’s just a DNA swab, right?” She drew away from the young man again, suddenly enough to put him off balance and the almost dropped the pad.

“Um, yes. I’ll just ah… Right.” He stuttered and set the security pad on the chair he had been occupying before they had arrived, darting to a cabinet and fishing out a small box marked with a biohazard symbol. Anna watched him with sharp eyes, a bemused smile on her face.  Adam could see the gears in her head working and knew she was, as he was, taking in the entire room.

The security guard fumbled with the box, drawing out a white stick with a cap and looking nervously at Anna.

“I uhm… I need to swab the inside of your cheek.” He said, holding the swab in his fist.

Anna smiled, a subtly predatory smile, and slowly leaned forward and opened her mouth, bringing her tongue to the edge of her lips. The guard leaned back as she came forward, entirely at a loss. Out of the corner of his eye Adam saw the other guards at the desk (all of them human) gather into a small herd, all of them riveted on the poor terrified man that Anna had pinned with her eyes. The lobby seemed to have ground to a halt, all of them watching the interaction with fascination.

Adam resisted the ludicrous urge smile; Anna was _brilliant_. She was playing the humans as easily as Terra had played the demon that had trapped him in the abandoned warehouse centuries before, and doing it disturbingly well. Despite his admiration it unsettled Adam. He was not surprised that they were uneasy about her; she had supposedly been dead for decades after all. What concerned him was how they all were regarding her like a ticking time bomb. He hadn’t missed how tense the humans had been when her identity had been confirmed at the gate, how quick the officer had been to get away from her. Even now the man administering the DNA test could barely work up enough courage to swab the inside of her cheek, keeping her at arm’s length as he got what he needed and stumbling back to put the sample through the computer concealed in the biohazard box. Anna watched him with her uncanny smile, her eyes sliding serenely to the other guards who peered over the man’s shoulder and read the screen with knitted brows. She winked when they stole glances at her, causing more than a few to shrink back uncomfortably and mutter amongst themselves.

The embers of the questions Adam had been desperately trying to quiet for weeks had been rankling him during the past few days. Now, as he watched the computer give Anna the all clear, watched the men surrounding it collectively gasp and clutch their weapons and the demons almost break their cover, the flames reached an unbearable white-hot intensity and he became almost belligerently eager to cross the threshold to the answers the Tower held.

The Tower guards ran the scan three times before finally accepting the inevitable. The guard who had taken Anna’s DNA shuffled cautiously forward, his face very obviously conflicted. Anna continued to stare him down as he handed her a blue card that she accepted with the same slow calculated movements, her smile almost a snarl.

“Your ah… entourage will need badges too.” The guard ventured.

“They’re with me.” Anna snapped back smoothly. The man looked as if he was struggling to decide whether to fight her or not, his jaw working nervously.

In the end his shoulders slumped forward, defeated, and he pushed a button on the silver arch that would give them access to the rest of the Tower. The arch hummed once and the guard made a sweeping ‘after you’ motion with his hand, a tight grimace on his face. Anna didn’t speak, merely flashed the other guards a smug, terrifying smile and then turned to Adam and the gargoyles.

“Let’s go kids!” She said sweetly. Adam took the lead, followed by Eli and Keziah. The archway rang as they each passed through.

“Hey… hey! You’ve got weapons!” The man said, his face drawing down into something close to petrified. Adam whirled just as the man began to tug fumblingly at his weapon.

Anna laughed, an eerie sound in the tense silence. She placed a finger on the man’s chest; coming so terribly close to him that their noses were almost touching.

“He’s my _bodyguard_ , sweetie. Of _course_ he’s got weapons.” She said smoothly, covering a multitude of sins in one sweep and brushing aside Eli and Keziah’s weapons without a thought. The man stuttered as Anna stalked through the archway, which lit up with a different kind of tone, one much harsher and insistent than the one that had sounded as Adam had strode through. There was a collective movement from behind the guards’ desk as several of them dashed to the arch, peering with pale faces at the display in something akin to horror. Anna did not look back, but quickly led the rest of her party to the elevators at the end of the hall. They opened as if on cue, and they filled in unmolested. Anna slide the blue card into a slot near the top of the elevator’s buttons and stabbed at the number 20 before taking a place at the back of the elevator car.

She tossed a triumphant look around the lobby as the doors slide to a close. Once she was concealed, her shoulders drooped and her face fell, her jaw tightening with either fury or distress, Adam couldn’t tell. It was as if she were being pulled down to earth as the car moved upwards, her head rolling forward so she was staring at the floor, her left hand coming up to dig into the mottled flesh of her right arm. After a few moments of silence she pinched the bridge of her nose without dropping her left hand.

“Are you alright?” Adam asked gruffly. “Did that not go like you were expecting?”

“No, it went _exactly_ as I was expecting.” Anna said, her eyes hidden behind the hair that had fallen around her face. She sighed.

“I just… don’t enjoy the fact that it was so easy for me to slip back into old habits. I was hoping they see through it a little bit…like I’d be nervous or stutter or something but no, same old fucking…shit…” she groaned and lifted her head, staring at the numbers as they neared their destination, her face angry.

“Would that not have meant we would have been barred from getting in?” Eli asked, his face a mask of confusion. “I thought you required answers that you could not access from your home.”

“Yes, but it would have proven…” Anna started, and then stopped herself abruptly.

“It’s good that we got in easily.” She said when she began again. “The rest of this will be a cakewalk.”

She gave them a small, false smile and fell silent. Adam watched her face; she was still carefully avoiding looking at him. He was tempted to ask her what failing to gain access to the Tower would have proven, but he knew she wouldn’t tell him. Not here with the gargoyles. He simply added it to his bonfire of unanswered questions and contented himself with preparing for whatever Anna led him into when the elevator stopped.

‘You know she’s more like you than I think either of you realize.’ Terra’s comforting voice floated through his head. ‘She’s angry at herself for something that might not be her fault.’

The elevator rang as it slowed to a halt. Anna shook her hair and straightened again, the arrogance coming visibly back into her posture and her hands falling to the side again. Adam caught only a glimpse of the half-moon marks she had left in the skin before the doors of the elevator slid open and Anna strode confidently onto a balcony that overlooked a huge and brightly lit laboratory. Adam and the gargoyles followed her at a small distance, Keziah throwing Adam a worried look that he did not know how to return. Then they were all distracted by what lay beneath their feet.

Anna had explained at length the nature of their target before they left the flat. The research and development lab of Nerium Tower was the most likely hub of the demon’s focus, she figured. It was where the most up-to-date technology was housed, and it required the highest level of security to access. If the demons were building an army, they would be doing it here. The machinery that was kept in the lab was state of the art, and it took a lot of power to run. Thus the lab fortuitously had its own vast bank of servers that powered their computers, which made it all the more easy for them to get their hands on the information they needed.

The laboratory was bustling with men and women in bright lab coats, nearly all of them clustered around several tables spread throughout the room. The air was alight with the sounds of machinery and tinged with the smell of melting rubber and metals. The scientists were mostly young, though there were a few older men and women with their heads bent over their projects and taking notes. The space above the scientists’ heads danced with holographic displays tracking data and projected moving models of what the scientists were busy building on the tables covered with neatly organized stacks of wire. Anna looked down over the lab for a moment as an nostalgic look washed over her face, making her look almost happy. Then she put her fingers in her mouth and whistled high and loud over the din.

Every head shot up and faced the open elevator. The same weird look of recognition that had afflicted the gate and Tower guards spread over the faces of the scientists as one by one they registered who was looking down at them.

“Good morning ladies and gents!” Anna called out enthusiastically. “Sorry to interrupt what is undoubtedly going to be a busy day, buuuuut… Surprise inspection time!” She clapped her hands and made her way around the balcony to the small set of stairs. “Drop your instruments and step away from your desks. Do not touch your computers, do not alter your displays, get up and put your backs against that far wall.”

To no one’s surprise, the scientists hesitated. A portly man- one of the oldest in the room- made his way to where Anna had alighted from the stairs, his face contorting angrily.

“All inspections have to be formally submitted, it’s the rule.” He said wheezily. “We weren’t informed you were coming and we have nothing to present! You can’t be here!”

Anna fixed him with a conceited smile.

“And I’ve just made a new rule that says if I feel an area or department is slacking in the quality of its work, I can arrive whenever I fucking choose and see to it that things get shaped up.” She replied unabashedly. “Who are you again?”

The man stuttered at her for a moment. Adam didn’t blame him.

“I, I’m the supervisor, Gordon-”

“Well, Gordon, if you could be a dear and kindly _supervise_ the moving of your people to that wall over there, _my_ people can get our inspection over and done with and get out of your hair. That’s going to save you ever so much more time than arguing with me.”

“Who the hell do you think you are, lady?” Gordon demanded.

Anna fished the security card she had received at the checkpoint out of her pocket and handed it to the supervisor.

“I’m your goddamned queen.” She sneered as his eyes widened. He took a few steps back from her, shakily returning the card when she opened her hand for it.

“Get your people against the wall.” Anna hissed. Gordon did an about-face with sweat beading on his forehead and quickly began ushering the scientists to the wall that Anna was pointing at. As they moved, Anna gestured to Adam and he followed behind the crowd. Several of the scientists stared at him but for once in his life Adam met their fearful eyes and glared them down. He was surprised at how good it felt; he generally did not enjoy frightening people, it had been his curse his whole life. When he was doing it on purpose, however, it seemed to have a different feeling altogether. Perhaps it was just allaying his nerves.

Anna gave the lab a cursory sweep; her eyes landing on a door that she knew would be there.

“Is this department still responsible for the maintenance of its own server room?” she asked, though all four of them knew the answer.

“Ah, yes ma’am.” Gordon said weakly. Anna nodded curtly to Eli, who strode to the door and disappeared inside, his bag of beetle devices over his shoulder.

“Then we’ll just be checking in there as well. Can’t have the servers go offline. _That_ would be catastrophic. As I said, we find this department falling behind some of our labs in production. I’m here to find out why.” Anna said, very convincingly pretending to enjoy the terrified looks she was receiving from the scientists in front of her. “I _don’t_ make public appearances, so you’d better believe the damage is significant. You should all be very, very hopeful I don’t find that its _you_ that’s causing the fall-behind.”

She began a very slow, methodical examination of each station, dragging the miserable Gordon behind her and plying him with questions.

Keziah meanwhile pulled a small pad that Anna had loaned her from her bag and began moving slowly from station to station, making cursory notes on the pad with her finger. Every now and again her hand would slip into the bag and reappeared with one of Kit’s devices concealed in her palm. Feigning interest in something she would peer closer and in a quick, cool motion the bug would be set inconspicuously against the station’s computer, feeding directly on the computer’s information. Eli would be making similar passes in the server room, planting as many bugs as he could.

It was a two-pronged information drain; both the information housed directly in the lab and any other information fed through the servers would be scooped up and sent back to Cortana. Adam had to give Anna credit; it was pretty ingenious, and so far seemed to be going off without a hitch.

“Who’s station is this?” Anna’s voice suddenly rang out. Twenty or thirty faces, including Adam’s, all craned to see what she was pointing to. A woman only a few years younger than Anna appeared to be suddenly squeaked, her hands flying to her mouth. Anna zeroed in on the sound with lightning fast acuity.

“You. Come here.”

The girl didn’t move. Anna shot Adam a look and he reluctantly moved to intercept the scientist. She shuddered away from him, tears in her eyes, as he escorted her to the desk where Anna stood. Adam’s heart dropped; just like that it wasn’t fun to be frightening again.

“This does not appear to be a schematic for a tissue regeneration machine. Do you mind explaining what it is?” Anna said, reclaiming his interest. He hovered at her elbow, watching curiously.

Anna’s face had changed. She was peering at the diagram floating a short distance above the worktable with fascination. It was breaking through the thick layer of pretention she had adopted at the citadel gate, and Adam wondering if she was aware. The woman he had brought over hiccupped and sniffled. Anna turned her head, fixing her with an almost gentle smile. Although unsure, the look seemed to give the scientist courage and she cleared her throat.

“It’s a personal project, ma’am. I mean, Miss Desormeaux. I was just getting back from my morning break and had a little time so I… I mean the computing power is much greater in the Tower than what I’ve got at home so I uhm… I just wanted to make a few tweaks…”

“Which is generally not encouraged.” Gordon quickly cut in. “And I do apologize, Miss Desormeaux, it won’t happen again. Gerta knows the rules, doesn’t she.” He turned a glare on the woman, who bowed her head.

Anna, however, turned a furious stare on the supervisor.

“You don’t encourage experimentation and exploration from your scientists?” She asked crisply. “Just how exactly is our research and development team supposed to develop anything if they can’t research it?”

Gordon’s face went ashen under her gaze. He attempted to speak and managed only a wheeze. Anna held up a hand.

“Please, go stand with the rest of them before you choke.” She said curtly, dismissing him entirely. The man practically ran back to the line of scientists, looking over his shoulder at Gerta with pity.

“Now.” Anna said, placing a very calm hand on Gerta’s shoulder. “Tell me what your personal project is.”

“Its… well it _is_ a tissue regenerator, begging your pardon ma’am, but not like one we use now. You see, here’s the regeneration ports, here and here. Its not mean to work alone, you see, there are hundreds of these things working at one time.”

“Nanites.” Anna said immediately.

“Yes!” Gerta said, forgetting herself for a moment. “I mean, yes. Going back to the company’s roots. Organ regeneration is a fine thing, but its so time consuming! So many people die before their organs can be regenerated in a lab. Did you know they’re refusing some people regens based off of their life expectancy now? And… your pardon ma’am, but it is only a select few who can afford it.”

“Gerta!” Gordon whispered from where he was standing, horrified. Anna’s eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms over her chest.

“And you want to make organ regeneration affordable?” she asked, sounding stern but genuinely curious. Gerta didn’t answer her right away.

“Please explain to me what you mean, Gerta, if you have criticisms of my father’s company you are well within your right to voice them.” Anna said to collective gasps from the far side of the room.

Gerta cringed and sputtered.

“There’s a whole city of people beyond the citadel that need medical help. We can fix them, we’ve always been able to fix them but we focus too much on the citadel citizens. What you’re seeing here are specifically designed to help recover from cancer, but they can be adapted for regeneration of radiated and chemically altered tissue as well. These nanites use half the power of the ones we stopped making a generation ago, their more efficient and cost less to make. In fact, they’re perfect for the newest wave of 3D printers that can handle building the minute circuitry. We could mass-produce billions and start really rebuilding humanity. Its… what the company was founded for, wasn’t it?”

Adam’s eyes went wide with surprise. The woman was brazen.

“It was, but it wasn’t our company that caused the war, nor the damage you’re wanting to fix.” Anna said evenly.

“No, ma’am, but they could fix it.”Gerta replied bravely.

“And you think it’s our responsibility to heal the world?” Anna asked.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because we shouldn’t be hiding inside the city when we could be out there helping people who are no less people than we are!” Gerta snapped her mouth shut, a bright cherry blush covering her face.

Respect bloomed in Adam’s breast for the human, and he slowly raised his eyes to Anna’s face, hoping against hope she wouldn’t respond in character. Not to this girl who was speaking a language Anna herself spoke so strongly. Anna did not say a word, but after a moment Adam saw the barest hint of a smile threaten to crack her veneer. It was enough for him; she was still his Anna. Adam relaxed slightly, looking up at Eli as he re-entered the lab and joined Keziah.

Anna leaned toward the holographic display, pulling Greta gently with her.

“Is there anyone else working with you on this?” Anna asked low enough for only Gerta and Adam to hear. The scientist nodded. Anna ran her tongue over her teeth.

“Back up your project on a personal drive. Right now. Tell everyone else who’s working on anything similar to do the same.” Anna fixed the girl with a grave look. “You are the future of this company, don’t you dare let anybody tell you any different. I’m going to need you for what’s coming. Back up your files.”

She let the startled woman go and strode to where Keziah and Eli stood, awaiting the next move. Adam trailed behind, puzzled by what he just heard. Before he could ask, Anna surveyed the lab one last time and then spun on her heel to face the bewildered scientists.

“I believe we have what we need.” She said with a deceptively charming smile. “Do keep up the good work. I don’t want to have to come back here, now.”

“Elizabeth Desormeaux!”

Adam and the gargoyles spun around, lifting their faces to the balcony. Anna, on the other hand, slowly turned her head and looked over her shoulder, an expression of boredom on her face.

Lining the balcony was a small contingent of security guards, all of them armed, all of them training their weapons on Anna’s party. Adam’s instincts were instantly alight and he inched his hand towards the kali in his coat. Eli placed a hand on his arm, halting him.

“They aren’t demons.” He whispered. Adam searched the grim faces looking down at him; from this distance he couldn’t tell but he dropped his hand all the same.

“Elizabeth Desormeaux,” the guard barked again, “You are to come with us immediately. You are under arrest.”

Anna snorted, her face still uninterested and shrugged.

“Oh. Goody.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys. You guys. Ya'll. I don't even know what to say. I'll just uhm... I'll be over here if you need me. I am so sorry.

There were very few times in Adam’s memory where he had felt as conflicted as he did this very moment being marched down the service hallway towards a secondary elevator that accessed the highest levels of Nerium Tower. The helmeted guards surrounding them were indeed all humans as Eli had said, and Adam almost felt that same hunted feeling that had followed him whenever humans were present. He felt the need to fight, to run, to escape and hide.

But the guns weren’t pointing at him, and the guards were focused solely on Anna.

The faces of the two gargoyles keeping pace with him were drawn and worried, but both remained somewhat placid. Anna of course walked ahead of them with the confidence of a princess, despite the barrels of the guards’ guns trained on her. Adam fought the urge to grab her and run, throwing himself entirely on Anna’s knowledge and aplomb for a little longer. If the demons showed up, he’d move. Until then, it was Anna’s show and he was just a player.

Four of the guards took up positions inside the elevator, one in each corner, and the remainder ushered their captives inside. The door closed with an ominous grinding sound and Adam felt his stomach do a summersault, his nerves taut. There were no numbered buttons in this elevator, only a slot for a security card. The guard nearest the slot inserted his card and the elevator slid smoothly into motion, climbing four or five more floors before opening onto the most elaborate and decadent entrance hall that Adam had seen since breaking into Wessex. It was bare but the decoration on the walls was opulent, all gilding and scrollwork and black marble shot with white. He shook his head. The parallels between the two companies were beginning to make him very uneasy.

The office at the end of the hall was even more severely opulent with white marbled floors offset by dark wood walls, all sharp angles and straight lines. The walls themselves were decorated threateningly with weapons from nearly every period of human history and Adam felt the hair on his neck rise; demons designed this place. They had to have. They would have enjoyed surrounding themselves with every tool Satan ever gave man to kill each other with.

One entire wall of the office was a floor-to ceiling window that looked over the citadel and the city beyond. The collision of the starkness of Nerium city and the lavishness of the Tower was striking. Adam caught Eli casting a long glance out that window, a sad, frustrated expression crossing his tense face, no doubt thinking of his earlier comment about the suffering going on beyond those walls.

The guards led them to a modest seating area in front of a large black desk; two extremely uncomfortable- looking white sofas and a table that appeared to be a protrusion of the marble floor rather than a separate piece of furniture. The lead guard motioned to the sofas with his rifle.

“Sit.” He ordered tersely.

Anna smiled indulgently and slid into one of the sofas with a confidence none of the rest could match. The gargoyles hesitated for only a moment and then followed her lead, sitting on the very edge of the cushions with their backs rigidly straight. Adam reluctantly followed suit and took up position to Anna’s right, nearest the desk.

Once the guards were certain they wouldn’t be causing trouble they began to file out of the room.

“Wait here.” The guard who had spoken before barked. “You will be interrogated shortly.”

He spun on his heel and followed the others out. Anna raised her eyebrows at the word ‘interrogate’ but looked otherwise unperturbed as she watched the soldiers leave. When they were alone, Adam turned a fierce look on her.

“Were you expecting _this_ , too?” He hissed, not bothering to conceal the anger in his voice. Anna gave him a languid smile.

“This? Oh no, this is new. They’ve redone all the paneling in here.”

“You know what I meant!” He nearly shouted at her. “Drop the act and tell me what is going on.”

“What’s going on is that my bodyguard is getting a little ahead of himself.” Anna replied. She was still giving him that irksome smug smile, but her voice had an edge to it, something much heavier than the air-headed mischievousness she had been playing at before. Adam narrowed his eyes as he met hers, listening very carefully.

“We’re in what used to be my father’s office, which means I think I’m going to have a visit from an… old friend who I did not expect to see this trip.” She said flippantly with a wave of her hand, her voice still heavy. “So I expect everyone to be on their best behavior. We want to make a good impression.”

She leveled a grave look at Adam, the veneer of her ruse dropping of just the slightest.

“Trust me.” Anna said in a low voice, glancing at Eli and Keziah. “This isn’t about you, it’s about me. The only one in danger here is me, from an entirely non-demonic source.”

“From your friend?” Keziah ventured, her piercing hazel eyes searching Anna, trying to figure her out.

“I don’t know yet. Maybe, maybe not, although it does concern me that he used the word ‘interrogate’.” Anna said thoughtfully and leaned back against the sofa cushions. “But I don’t think she’ll make trouble, there’s very little that she can actually do.”

Anna’s face clouded briefly, making Adam think she was less confident in that statement then she’d have them believe.

“She?” Adam queried hoping to get more information. Anna ignored him and rose, crossing to the desk and tapping a slim box that whistled at her mechanically. A thin, flat arm rose from the box that Anna took and spoke a series of numbers into before pressing it to her ear like a telephone.

“Chauffer?” She said after a moment. “We’ve been delayed. No telling yet when we’ll be done, the Queen of Hearts is a real taskmistress. Wait for my call before coming back to the Tower. Ciao sweetie.”

She clicked the phone off and replaced it on the desk.

“Queen of hearts?” Eli asked.

“It’s a code.” Anna said softly, throwing a glance to the ceiling where beyond the sparkling crystal chandelier the black bulb of a camera winked red and green.

“If this goes well I’ll get us a company transport out of the citadel at least. If it doesn’t, I don’t want Kit anywhere near this place. I told him to go home.”

“Are you worried, then?” Adam asked pointedly. “Should we be worried?”

After a moment’s hesitation Anna opened her mouth to answer but abruptly shut it again as the door they had just been escorted through flew open with a clatter. Instantly all traces of Anna’s seriousness evaporated from her face and she turned with a sharp smile towards the door.

A portly, balding man raced through the door, stopping as soon as he saw Anna, his chest heaving and his eyes bulging out of his head. Anna’s smile vanished and she regarded him with careful consideration.

“Oh my God.” The man said, his voice gravelly but ecstatic. “Oh my God. They said that you were back but I didn’t… Oh my God. Oh my God, _Liz_!”

Anna’s eyes went wide and her jaw dropped as recognition flooded her face, follow by the most intensely disgusted expression Adam had ever seen a human wear.

“Connor.” She said slowly, anger and hatred dripping from her voice. The entire pretense had fallen from her posture and she was once again entirely herself as she regarded the man as if he were an insect she would like to flick away.

There was something cold and terrible in the way Anna was looking at him; a brutal harshness that Adam had never seen in her before, but that was very, very familiar. Rage. Hate. She looked at him as if it was taking all her willpower not to wrap her fingers around his neck and squeeze the life from him. Adam shuddered as she brushed the man off and plopped down on the couch next to him. Her anger was like a blast of frigid air throughout the room and both Eli and Keziah stared at her in confusion. Keziah threw a questioning look at Adam, who shook his head very slowly: not yet, not our fight. Keziah nodded and put her hand meaningfully on Eli’s arm

Connor, oblivious to any of them but Anna trailed after her like a puppy, a dopey, happy expression on his face. He was a pudgy man in his late sixties with pasty, unhealthy-looking skin that sagged from his cheekbones and looked as if he had lived his entire life indoors. As Anna sat he moved to perch on the table in front of her, looking for all the world like an infatuated schoolboy, the remain in bits of his lank hair falling over his forehead.

“Liz… you have no idea how good it is to see you!” He gushed. “None of us believed it when the report came back from the Symphony and you were listed as deceased. I never believed it; not you, you couldn’t have been killed. But it’s been so long… your father, he held on the longest, he never stopped believing you would come back. He ah… he was a good man, Liz. He said, tears appearing in his eyes. “And here you are, finally!” He choked. “You… you’re still so beautiful.”

A wistful, predatory look came into his eyes and he reached for Anna’s face. She knocked his hand away like his touch would burn her.

“And you still think you have the right to touch me.” She said scathingly. “Don’t call me Liz. And don’t talk to me about my father.”

Connor recoiled from her in disbelief and something very dark bloomed in his eyes, his cheeks flaring a splotchy red.

“You can’t _still_ be angry with me. It’s been, what? Forty years? And look at you, you still look as young as you did the day before the accident!”

“Fifty.” Anna spat. “Fifty years and all of my friends and the people I loved are gone and the world is going backwards not forwards and my father’s company is helping it go that way. Yes, I am most assuredly still angry.”

Connor looked hurt.

“If you had just stayed, we would have perfected the technology. We could have gotten the ‘nites out of you and rebuilt you all organic. We can do that now! And you would have aged just like the rest of us.” That dark wistful look crept into his eyes again. “But why you would want to is beyond me.”

“Stay and let you paw at me for another five years? No thanks. I saw my chance to get out and took it.” Anna replied, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning as far back into the cushions as she could. “Running with the Nocturnes and fucking up Nerium’s shit was heaven after what ya’ll put me through, even if it did lead to the Symphony. Stop patting yourself on the back for your scientific prowess in bringing me back, it didn’t erase anything that came afterwards and it didn’t make any of you heroes.”

Connor’s expression turned angry.

“I think I’m owed a little more respect for what we, what _I_ achieved.” He said attempting to sound dangerous and ending up sounding petulant. “You owe me your _life_ , Liz.”

“I respected my father’s reason to bring me back, if not his rational.” Anna admitted. “Yours on the other hand? You wanted to play the white knight and save me and get the girl happily ever after. When it didn’t work out like you wanted you suddenly seemed mighty content to try and put me back in the ground where you found me. Remember?”

Adam’s eyes narrowed as he glowered at Connor, suddenly feeling Anna very justified in wanting to strangle the little man. In fact, he felt justified in wanting to strangle the man. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Keziah shift in her seat, her anger radiating from her like invisible smoke. The portly man cast a furtive glance over his shoulder and began to sweat, his eyes darting back and forth between Anna and Adam. He was trapped.

“I loved you” Connor blurted out, sounding like a child. “I _saved_ you. Because I loved you!” He sniffed. “I _still_ love you.”

“Well that just makes you awful _and_ pathetic.” Anna snapped. “What did you think I would do after five years of being pulled apart and put back together and learning to walk again and breath without hurting myself? That I would swoon and fall into your arms? You were my _friend_ , Connor, we were _friends_. How could you have thought I owed you anything for saving my life?”

“Because you’d be dead without me!” Connor shouted, his voice pitching high and whiney.

“ _I didn’t ask to be brought back_.” Anna screamed back at him, her hands working into the flesh of her forearms.

“You ungrateful _bitch_!” Connor said punctuating the word with a sound slap across Anna’s face.

Adam had moved as soon as Connor had pulled back his arm, but Anna was quicker.

Barely fazed by the blow, Anna caught the man’s arm as it moved across her cheek. She leapt to her feet and whirled him around, slamming him face down on the coffee table and pinning him with her knee. Moving almost quicker than Adam could track she yanked the blessed knife from its hidden sheath and plunged it into the man’s outstretched arm just below his shoulder. Adam clenched his teeth, anticipating the scream.

There was none.

Connor twisted his head and stared at the knife, his eyes widening in fear, but there was no pain in his expression. Anna grasped the knife with her left hand and as she moved her arm, Adam saw the holographics flashing across her skin; she had activated whatever it was that gave her the uncanny superstrength and was now using it to pull Connor’s arm backwards with her right hand, bending it around the point where the knife had him pinned.

“Liz, no, no _please_! I’m sorry I’m sorry I didn’t mean to do it!” Connor suddenly wailed, attempting to twist himself out from underneath her to no avail. Anna’s eyes had gone blank, all her effort focused on her task.

Several sharp cracks echoed off the walls of the office amidst Connor’s increasing stream of panicked profanities. Anna bent the arm over the knife and then with a snarling yell ripped the arm back the proper way, the scars on her arm rippling as her muscles moved. In one swift, brutal move she separated the limb from Connor’s body with a crunching,sound.

Connor shrieked as Anna stood, pulling the knife from the table and releasing him. The man rolled to the floor, sobbing and calling her foul names. Adam shrunk back from Anna, appalled, then he noticed something very odd about the arm she was holding.

What he had assumed to be blood dripping from it was greenish-black, and it was dripping from blue and orange wire, not veins. Then the smell hit his nostrils and the reality came crashing down on him.

Connor was a ‘bot. Or at least his arm was. Had Anna known? She had to have known. She wouldn’t have done it if she didn’t know. Would she? Adam met Keziah’s wide-eyed, horror-struck gaze and knew she was asking herself the same thing. Eli looked as though he was going to be ill. Anna continued to stare down at the pitiful, whimpering mass that was Connor, her eyes cold and her grip on the knife never slacking. With a shaky hand Adam brushed the back of her wrist, feathering the scars with his fingertips.

“Anna.” He whispered, unsure of what to say.

Stiffly she turned and faced him. Her pupils were still contracted, but she looked afraid. Her lip quivered as she looked at him and she looked as if she was about to speak, to explain, and to let everything spill out of her. Adam took her wrist in his hand, worried and more than a little shocked, but knowing she needed him now.

“Adam,” She said uncertainly. “I’m-”

“Temper, temper.” A musical voice rang out. “Some things never change.”

A tall, bronze-skinned woman stood near the open door, her short, flashy red dress making her stand out like a bloodstain on white sheets in the austere office. She seemed perfectly at home, however, as she strode towards them with slow, measured steps, her hips swaying as she walked. An image of a stalking jaguar sprang into Adam’s mind and he was immediately on his guard.

“Severina.” Anna said, drawing out the ‘s’. Her sharp, dangerous smile was once again pasted back on her face. As soon as she caught sight of the woman Anna’s veneer snapped back into place and she pulled away from Adam, leaving a hole in him that he could not fathom. Neither woman acknowledged Connor, despite Anna’s grip on his detached prosthetic limb.

The red, dark-haired woman matched Anna’s smile. Two large cats, circling each other, ready to turn feral in a moment.

“You look _wonderful_ , darling.” Severina purred, opening her arms to embrace Anna’s shoulders.

“And you…are wearing my mother’s diamonds.” Anna said and accepted the embrace, exchanging a peck on the cheek as the gems in question, a string of canary diamonds draped elegantly around Severina’s neck, caught the chandelier’s light. She sniffed the air.

“And her perfume.” Anna commented with surprise and to Adam’s shock, grudging admiration. “Going for nostalgia, are we?”

Severina laughed, a sound like falling glass.

“Your father gave them to me.” She said, stroking the necklace lovingly.

“I _highly_ doubt my father gave you mom’s perfume.” Anna replied incredulously, her eyes flashing.

“Oh no, that was my own touch. It comforted him, I think, after you were both gone.” Severina said slyly, her dark eyes watching Anna sidelong, as if waiting to see if she would get some joke she had just told. Adam’s stomach churned uncomfortably as the two eyed each other, each playing nice for now.

He had been right earlier; they should be worried. The sense that they needed to leave, and now, was beginning to whisper urgently into his brain. Every second they remained was one more chance for someone to find the devices But something, some curiosity or shock or madness kept him rooted where he sat, wanting to see how this played out, wanting to see if the secrets that were so obviously choking the air would be revealed.

From the floor, Connor sniffled.

“Sev, Sev did you see what she did to me?” He blubbered. “Sev, she took my arm off again.”

 _Again_. Was it robotic the first time? Both of the gargoyles regarded Anna with something akin to horror. Adam processed the information and remained as calm as he could.

‘Later.’ He told himself. ‘ _Soon_. But _later_. When we get out of here.’

Severina and Anna both looked at Connor with the same cruelly disgusted expression.

“I can see that.” Severina said, amused. “I _told_ you not to come up here…” She said in a voice that clearly told a different story.

“Get up, Connor. Take your arm and get down to the robotics lab, they’ll fix it. And stop sniveling.” Severina said, dismissing the man and crossing to the desk where she leaned comfortably. Anna tossed the useless limb to Connor, who stumbled to his feet and practically ran out of the room.

When he had slammed the door behind him, Anna took her place on the couch once more, her relaxed façade making her almost lounge next to Adam as she slipped the blessed knife back into its sheath at her ankle.

“Curious.” She said, “That felt like a silicone blend over aluminum. Very crushable, if lighter. You have the capability to regrow his skin, correct? Why keep him robotic?”

Adam looked at her in surprise; that _was_ a good question. Severina smirked.

“Not everyone qualifies for regeneration, we’re _very_ selective about who receives treatment. Connor became a ‘bot forty years ago, he’s not eligible.” She turned her red-lipped smile on Anna. “He has you to thank for that.”

“And I have him to thank for several things.” Anna shot back. “I’ll call it even.” She cocked her head to the side.

“Also…Since when did people need to qualify to receive care from Nerium? Who determines the qualifications? I see _you_ qualify for regeneration.”

“Well, I _did_ rescue the company from the brink of taking the wrong side in the war. Our investors felt it was in their best interest to keep me in charge for longer than normal.” Severina said, shaking her long black ponytail over her shoulder and looking smug.

“Ha.” Anna said shortly. “I bet they did.”

She turned to Adam, who was entirely lost.

“Severina and I went to school together.” Anna explained. “She’s my age.”

Adam and the gargoyles quickly looked back at the red woman, who was clearly enjoying their scrutiny. What had Anna said, seventy-seven? Severina looked maybe forty.

“Darling, that ‘s a carefully guarded company secret.” Severina said.

“Yes, so am I. So how many times have you cloned your organs?” Anna said casually, as if this was a normal topic of conversation. It was plainly a dig at the other woman, but if Severina was perturbed by it she gave no indication.

“Internal organs only once. Skin has been a little trickier, but we’re much better at it than we were when yours was… generated.” The woman’s eyes, so dark they were almost black, looked with contempt over Anna’s scars. Adam was afraid Anna would flinch, but she remained unmoved.

“Clearly.” Anna replied nonchalantly.  

“The only thing that’s been truly difficult is the bones. We haven’t quite nailed that technology yet, the regenerations tend to be almost as brittle as the aged originals.” She fixed Anna with a very nasty smile. “And of course, I refuse to let them put one inch of that unnatural titanium polypropylene absurdity in me.”

That did affect Anna, and Adam heard her nails scratch along the back of the couch as she balled her hand into a fist. She did not reply.

“Poor Connor will need a whole new structural system it looked like.” Severina went on, content with her landed blow.

“He’s lucky.” Anna said tightly. “I could have taken the organic one.”

Severina laughed out loud, making Adam cringe.

“You took quite the gamble there, you know.” Severina smiled wickedly. “Could have been the real thing.”

A half-smile broke Anna’s stony glare and she propped on leg up on the couch, resting her elbow on her knee.

“You know me. I’ve never been afraid to do my own dirty work. Unlike some.” She replied rather pointedly. “In fact I’m surprised you came to talk to me face-to-face instead of just escorting me from the building.”

Severina brought her hand up in front of her face.

“I always did care more about the state of my hands than you.” She said, admiring her long blood-red nails. Adam looked sidelong at Anna’s hand, where the nails were uncolored, short and chipped.

“There are more important things than how you look.” Anna shot back confidently. “That was always your one fatal flaw; you cared way too much about appearances, always covering and faking when what was going on in the background was always so… sinister.”

Severina blinked at Anna before narrowing her eyes, her face turning suspicious. Adam inhaled sharply; Anna was trying to prod Severina about the demons. If she was involved, if she knew, Anna had just put them all in danger.

There was a buzz from the black device on the desk and Severina’s smile appeared again, sly this time and secretive, her suspicion vanishing like smoke. Adam let out a shaky breath. He was going to strangle Anna.

“Perhaps.” Severina said softly, recapturing his attention. She touched a hidden button that withdrew the bolt on the door. “But if that’s my weakness, its nothing compared to yours.”

“And what’s mine?” Anna asked incredulously as the door opened. Severina ignored her question for a moment, instead looking at the newcomer who slowly entered the room. It was a man in a lab coat as white as his hair, contrasting sharply with his dark, wrinkled skin. He looked incredibly tired, supporting himself with a worn cane as he made his way across the room to where Severina leaned against the desk, but his eyes were bright as they darted from each of them, alighting finally on Anna. He stopped walking almost immediately, conflicting emotions of pain, hope, and helplessness flashing over his face before he settled back into his tired expression; a façade, Adam was almost certain. An air of calm seemed to settle over the man as he stared at Anna. Without knowing why, Adam felt that he liked the man

Anna, who had kept her gaze focused on Severina, seemed to suddenly feel the man’s eyes on her and she turned to look at him, a gasp escaping her lips after only a moment. She surged forward and dropped her foot to the floor once more, very nearly climbing over the back on the couch before she mastered herself, settling back once more with a mixture of horror and blunt realization washing over her. Severina turned to Anna with a triumphant smile and their eyes met.

“People.” The red-clad woman said, finally answering Anna’s question. She turned back to the man and held out her hand.

“Ezra.” She cooed. “Come here, dearest.”

The man turned reluctantly back to his mistress, his cool veneer breaking ever so slightly and a sliver of pure hate slipped through, enough to confirm for Adam the man’s façade.

Severina hopped onto the desk, letting her crossed legs hang attractively and pulled Ezra to her, draping her arms around his shoulders possessively. Adam felt Anna stiffen next to him.

“Hi, old man.” Anna said, her voice thick with emotion. The man in Severina’s arms smiled, a warm, kind smile that lit up his face. For a moment it allowed Adam saw past the age and the fatigue, and he thought Ezra must have been handsome when he was young.

“Hello pretty girl.” Ezra replied, the words rolling off his tongue with a faint but recognizable Bengali accent. The smile they exchanged was strangely open and vulnerable and Adam felt as if they were all intruding; this was obviously a reunion. A small inkling of what was actually going on began forming in Adam’s mind and his heart ached for Anna. As subtly as he could manage he closed one hand around hers and gave it a quick squeeze, dropping it almost instantly; all the comfort they could afford at the moment. He didn’t know who, or what, the man in front of them was to Anna, but he had recognized the look on her face and felt a surge of sympathy. He remembered one of the last times he had seen Terra alive; she had been in her seventies, her eyes nearly blind and her hair crumbling and grey. Oh yes, he recognized that pain very well.

“You look as beautiful as the day you left.” Ezra continued, oblivious to the other people in the room, including a scowling Severina.

“The day I left I broke your leg in three places.” Anna said, her voice full of regret as she stared at the cane in his hand. “Why hasn’t she fixed it? You ‘qualify’…don’t you?”

“Oh yes.” Ezra replied with resignation. “She prefers me hobbled.”

The tension in the room skyrocketed and the two women stared each other down, all of their pretenses gone now.

“People.” Severina repeated. “You’ve always been weak for your people. You used to bend over backwards for Anna and Janelle and all your little adoptees in the lab. For Ezzie. And everyone thought you were so _great_.” A poisonous note slipped into her voice and her faced twisted into an ugly snarl that was gone an instant later.

“For you too.” Anna said in a tight voice, her eyes not leaving Ezra’s as though trying to read his thoughts. “Did you forget who got you the job here in the first place?”

“ _Raymond_ did.” Severina spat. “And after you left I was all he had. All anybody had left.”

She tightened her grip around Ezra’s shoulders. Anna fixed the man with an alarmed look, but Ezra gave her a faint, knowing smile and subtly shook his head. Anna did not relax, but looked relieved nonetheless. Severina did not notice the exchange.

“You think you can just come back in here and take back Nerium? You think you have the right? After you disappeared your father was getting ready to drive the company into the dirt trying to find you in the fracas of the Symphony, tracking the Nocturnes for any sign of you. I stepped in and fixed it. I gave him a reason to keep building. I saved the company _and_ the citadel, _several_ citadels in fact. We kept doing that human thing, thriving and not simply surviving. You might not remember how to do that.” Severina said nastily.

Adam knitted his brow. This was becoming very personal, very quickly. A quick glance at Anna showed confusion on her part as well. Severina had quickly turned defensive, and Anna evidently had not expected it.

“It wasn’t ever my intention to stay, just to look around.” Anna said slowly. “Nostalgia and all that. But you are driving this place into something dad – my father- never wanted. Qualifications on whose lives get saved? Who the hell do you think you are?”

A small smile stole over Ezra’s face and he met Adam’s eyes proudly. Adam returned the smile.

“That’s not your concern anymore.” Severina hissed.

“And if I try to stay?” Anna said softly. “It is well within my right, you know. It would be legally supported once the proper procedures had taken place.”

“Fuck the legality.” Severina spat. “You’re _not_ coming back. You are going to walk out that door and never come back. I know you’ve been lurking in the citadel since the war; you’re going to quit and leave. Gone.” She leveled an intense glare at Anna.

“Nerium is _mine_.” She hissed. “And I will do whatever I have to in order to keep it.”

So _that_ was it. Adam’s fears lessened slightly, despite his persistant intense discomfort. Severina had no idea about their real mission. She simply thought Anna was staging a coup. He almost laughed.

“And if I don’t?” Anna asked, her voice even and rigid. “If I don’t leave?”

“If you don’t, I’m going to use your weakness against you.” Severina growled. She reached into the pocked of Ezra’s lab coat and drew out a syringe filled with something that glittered as it caught the light. Anna tensed when she saw it. Severina pushed the tool into Ezra hands and pressed her lips to his ear.

“Kill her.” She ordered, loud enough for all of them to hear.  Adam surged forward, furious, only to be jerked back into his seat with a strangled cry by Anna’s hand on his collar. She had not dropped her strength, and gripped his shirt with an impressive force.  

Keziah and Eli had risen to their feet, hands falling inside their coats to grip their concealed weapons. They all stared at Anna, who was the only one who had not moved. Her eyes were closed and her jaw was working, first with fury, then clenched with defeat.

“She knows I won’t hurt Ezra.” Anna finally said, so quietly Adam had to strain to hear her.

“I will.” Adam growled.

“You will not.” Anna said with some force. She opened her eyes and looked over her three companions apologetically, lingering the longest on Adam.

“Please.” She begged quietly before turning her gaze on Severina, releasing her death grip on Adam’s shirt.

“How many more years are you going to punish the people who chose me over you?” Anna asked, a dangerous note in her voice.

Severina’s smile turned downright vicious.

“As many as I can. As many as I _want_. Your father was just the beginning. Connor? Ezra? I can keep them alive as long as it takes to keep you away. And believe me, I will.”

“You needn’t insist.” Anna said, her voice quiet, deflated. “You know I’m going.”

“I do.” Severina said with a smile. She rested her chin on Ezra’s shoulder, triumphant.

“I’ll even let you kiss him goodbye if you want. I know it hurts, doesn’t it? Now you know what it feels like to lose everything. Everything you ever had, your father, the company, everything you ever had is mine.”

“Not everything.” Ezra’s voice sounded tired, but firm. Anna raised her head abruptly.

“Ezra.” Severina said, her grip on his shoulders tightening. “I have surveillance on your sons right now…”

“And on my son’s sons too I shouldn’t wonder.” He replied dryly. “I and my whole family have been under the thumb of Nerium for far too long.”

He gestured out the window, where the noon sun washed the citadel in hazy light.

“We all have.” He leveled a very stern glance at Anna. “And I do believe it’s high time that came to an end. In any case…” he dropped the syringe on the desk. “You’re a fool if you think I’ll help you hurt Anna.”

Ezra gave Anna a very confident, loving smile, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

“Do what you have to do.” He said. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

For a moment no one spoke, too shocked and confused to speak. Severina made a furious, disbelieving noise in her throat. With reflexes like a cat she snatched the syringe from the desk, uncapping it and jamming it into the back of Ezra’s neck.

“NO!” Anna screeched, leaping over Adam as Ezra gasped and dropped his cane, clutching his neck. Keziah’s hands flew to her mouth. Adam rushed to Anna’s side and helped her lay Ezra on the floor, but he could already tell there was nothing to be done. The old man, fragile already, had his teeth were clenched and his breath began to come in short gasps. Severina watched dispassionately from her perch on the desk.

“Nanites.” Ezra hissed.

“What?” Adam asked, his eyes darting from Ezra’s pained face to Anna’s terrified one.

“Nanites, microscopic robots. They’ll attack his nervous system and shut down his organs. Ezra, what do you need? How do I stop them?”

“You don’t.” Ezra gasped.

“No, Ezra, please. We’ll get you to the lab, we can-”

“You can’t.” The man whispered.

“Ez, no…” Anna choked. “I’m so sorry. I’m-”

“Don’t be sorry. Be active.” He reached into his pocked with difficulty and pressed something into Anna’s hand. He smiled once more and then his head fell back, his body convulsing.

“No, Ezra, don’t!” Anna gasped, placing her hands on either side of his head, kissing his cheek, his eyes, his lips. But he was gone.

“Anna...” Adam whispered, pulling her back gently, barely registering that he was grasping her scars as he stroked her arm. She fell against the desk breathing in shallow gasps, her eyes wide but dry, unable to yet process what had happened as she stared at Ezra’s corpse. Adam stroked her face, trying to bring her back to reality.

“Anna, we need to leave, now.” He said, trying to be gentle.

“Adam!” Keziah shrieked. There was a tremendous crack! which sent Adam ducking forward in a blind panic, shielding Anna. From behind him Eli moaned, and something slumped to the floor heavily.

Before he could turn, something cold and metallic moved the hair on the side of his head. Adam froze, his pulse racing.

“You picked a bad person to work for, ugly.” Severina’s voice said from the other end of the pistol. Adam turned his head ever so slightly to look up at her face, which contrived to look sympathetic as she pressed the barrel of the gun to his temple. Anna watched the exchange blandly, as if she didn’t even see it.

Cold fear spread through Adam’s body. He’d been shot before, but never in the head. Could he recover from a headshot at this distance? He didn’t think even he could survive that. He closed his hand around Anna’s, not able to look at her, as the embers of his curiosity faded and the knot she had wound around his heart hitched painfully.

“It’s nothing personal, sweetie.” Severina was saying. “I just haven’t made her cry yet, and I was so hoping she’d cry.”

Adam closed his eyes and listened to the barest sound of Severina’s finger tightening around the trigger.

Suddenly there was a blow to his chest that knocked every ounce of breath out of him, and another crack resounded in the office. Adam gasped as his back slammed against one of the couches, buckling it under his weight and the force of the blow. For a moment he was lost. Then his vision righted itself and he saw Anna upright on her knees, the gun pressed just behind her jaw, a stream of blood flowing from the exit wound on the other side of her face and staining her blouse. Severina stared down at her in shock.

A strangled cry leapt from Adam’s throat and reached for Anna, panic stabbing through him. Anna turned her head to look at Severina. The gaping hole in the left side of her face stopped Adam short of touching her, bile rising in his throat. Then something…changed in the wound. A weird, greenish halo appeared around the edges of the injury, and while it was still bleeding it began to get smaller, rapidly closing up on itself like a gory flower. Adam stared wildly at it, feeling more confused and off balance than he ever had.

“You aren’t taking him from me.” Anna said, her voice low and furious.

Again more quickly than was humanly possible Adam’s benefactor moved, snatching Severina’s wrist and dragging her from the desk, twisting so violently the woman in red’s arm snapped like a twig just below the elbow. The gun clattered to the floor only to be scooped up by Anna as she pinned Severina to the floor, her fingerings winding in her mother’s diamonds as she pressed an unforgiving hand to Severina’s throat and rested the gun against her head.

“You aren’t taking him from me.” Anna repeated. “You aren’t taking _anyone_ from me, ever again.”

Cold fury twisted her bloody face into something almost unrecognizable and Adam instinctively pulled back from her.

“Adam!” Keziah screamed. “Eli is wounded, we need to leave, _now._ ”

Adam swiveled his head back to the gargoyles.

Severina’s first shot had struck Eli just below the ribs and bright white light shone out from between his fingers. He met Keziah’s tear-filled eyes with astonishment.

“I do not know how,” She said in anxious disbelief, pressing her hand over Eli’s, “but it wounded him.”

Adam shut down all of his panic, shoved aside all of his confusion and reduced himself to the instinct he had lived by for so many years. He grasped at Anna’s shoulder, pulling her.

“We need to get out of here.” He said.

Anna didn’t move.

“Leave her!” Adam insisted, and dropped his hand to Anna’s clutched around the gun, attempting to pull it away, then stopped. Anna was shaking. Adam glanced up at her face and realized that she was no longer looking at Severina.

She stared up at the figure that had appeared in the double doors, his arms crossed over his chest nonchalantly. His suit was crisply pressed, and his hair was peppered with grey, but it took Adam only a moment to recognize the face peering at them with disdainful amusement. He wasn’t able to react fast enough.

Without warning, several dark-suited men swarmed around him.

“Demons!” Keziah yelled, settling Eli against the couch and drawing her blades. Adam stood and rushed them, whirling his kali in every direction. Demon after demon burst into flames, but they seemed to be never ending. They came at him from all directions, too fast for him to count, and he found himself battered far more violently than he had been in a long time.

It took the demons only a few minutes to subdue them; they never stood a chance. It took three of them to hold Adam down, pinning him on his knees with his hands behind his neck, but he was well and truly caught. Keziah lay next to Eli, a sword at her throat and angry tears streaming down her face.

Anna still had not moved, her eyes fixed on the man overseeing the battle. When everything fell relatively quiet, he strode confidently into the room. Anna bolted to her feet and took a few stumbling steps back.

“Dad?” She whispered, her voice quavering in a way that made Adam’s heart break.

Severina, finally free, rolled over and coughed violently, clutching her broken arm. A sob escaped her throat and she struggled to her feet and met the older man, but his eyes lingered on Anna.

“My lord,” She began. “Let me explain.”

“Really, Severina, I have told you to alert me if something of this nature ever arose.” Raymond Desormeaux cast a disinterested glance at Ezra’s corpse. “One of my engineers is down in the robotics lab bawling like a child, another lies dead at your feet and I’m to understand you put a gun to the head of the prize I’ve been hunting for over four hundred years. I am disappointed in you.”

Adam’s blood ran cold.

“Naberius.” He hissed.

The demon prince favored him with a vicious, knowing smile from Anna’s father’s lips before turning back to Severina. His hand shot out and squeezed Severina’s broken arm, making her cry out in pain. He pulled her in close to him, a sneer twisting his once-pleasant face.

“If all you came away with is a broken arm, my dear, you should consider yourself blessed.” He hissed quietly before tossing Severina aside.

“But I have more pressing matters.” He said softly smiling gently, almost kindly at Anna. He slowly made his way to her.

“You know, I don’t remember you, not really.” He said almost wistfully. “But there are things that remain. I know that you cried all night the day we left America because we couldn’t take the horses with us. I held you and read you Black Beauty until you fell asleep, and I thought I was the worst parent in the world. I know your first social dance was miserable, and that you have a secret recipe for caramel-chocolate popcorn that I would kill to taste in reality, not just faded memories.”

He came a step too close and Anna’s stupor broke. She swung the gun up and leveled it against his chest.

“You. Aren’t. My father.” She said through clenched teeth, her whole frame shaking.

The demons growled when she raised the weapon, but the dark-skinned man smiled and waved them away.

“No, I am not.” He conceded. “Not really. But by all accounts… why would you want me to be? I know what he did to you.”

Naberius placed his fingertips on the inside of her scarred wrist, just beyond the grip on the gun. Adam wrestled against his captors, not able to stand Naberius’s hand one Anna.

“And how quick he was to toss you aside.” Naberius said softly, ignoring Adam. “He was wrong, Elizabeth, _Anna_. So very wrong.”

“Anna, don’t listen to him! It’s Naberius, it’s not your father it’s Naberi-” Adam shouted roughly before a demon struck him in the head and pushed him to the floor. Anna’s eyes met his for a single, scared second and then back to Naberius as he stepped forward, pushing aside the gun. Her arm fell limply to her side. Severina glared at the two of them with a hateful, jealous expression from where she had moved behind the desk.

“There is so much to make reparations for.” Naberius continued in Desormeaux’s quiet, even voice. “I am not your father, no. But I can help you in wasy he could not, if you’ll let me.”

He opened his arms, offering them to her. Tears slipped down Anna’s cheeks to mingle with the blood on her shirt.

“Please.” He coaxed gently.

Anna hesitated, clearly torn. Then with agonizing slowness she moved towards him, casting one last glance down at Adam.

“No…” Adam moaned quietly as Naberius’s arms closed around Anna’s shoulders. She sank into him with a soft sob, burying her face in his chest as he stroked her hair.

“It will be alright now.” Naberius soothed. “It will be alright.”

Anna pulled away from him with a watery smile.

“No, I don’t think it will.” She said shakily. Without another word she pressed the gun against her father’s thigh and fired.

Naberius screamed and collapsed. The demons roared as one and surged forward. Anna moved and aimed the gun at the ceiling, blowing the chandelier to pieces in an explosion of sparked and glass. The lights in the room snapped off in the electrical blowback, the conflicting sudden darkness and sunlight from the window momentarily blinding them all and throwing the room into confusion.

Adam threw the demons off of him and dove for where the light from Eli’s wound broke the darkness. A lone figure appeared in front of the window and fired three shots into the glass leaving bullet holes that spread spider web cracks across the huge pane. With a sinking feeling in his stomach Adam realized what the plan was.

“Can you fly?” Adam shouted, pulling Eli to his feet and shoving him toward the window. A hand found its way into his; Keziah.

“Yes,” Eli yelled back weakly. “But not for long.”

“Fly fast.” Adam replied wryly as the three hurtled towards the window. Adam saw Keziah snake an arm around Anna’s waist moments before they hit the glass and shattered outward into a dead drop over the citadel.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for your patience my friends, work has been absolutely killer this month :(
> 
> But here's hoping it was worth the wait, please enjoy!

They hurtled towards the streets of the citadel, the lights of the Tower flashing as they passed floor after floor. Adam’s stomach, however, hovered somewhere back next to the window they had leapt from. With a roar Keziah transformed and caught Adam in her talons, scooping Anna into her arms. Eli was much slower, but followed her lead, the two of them slowly stretching their wings and circling the Tower, bleeding off height and speed.

From his precarious position dangling from Keziah’s grip Adam heard Anna shouting at Keziah urgently, but could not make out the words over the rush of air moving past his ears. They continued spiraling downward until they were almost at the street level, startling screams out of more than a few Citadel citizens. Finally they began to pump their wings and move over the city.

In the confusion of their flight the fleeting thought of how exposed the gargoyles were registered suddenly in Adam’s mind. They were so near the street, in broad daylight! Humans below them were in a frenzy, but neither of the gargoyles tried to gain any altitude. Leonore would be furious, what were they thinking? It became all too clear when the citadel wall rose above them and they took their first hard wing beats to rise above it. As soon as they cleared the surrounding buildings there was a crackling sound and the wall to Adam’s right exploded into pockets of dust. Gunfire; the Tower guns had opened fire on them. Concrete shrapnel sprayed across Adam’s face and he finally understood what Anna had been yelling; keep low.

Keziah and Eli did the best they could to keep out of the waves of bullets, weaving a complicated pattern to the top of the wall and plunging themselves over it. Several smaller guns on the wall’s exterior took potshots at them, but nothing managed to come close. Keziah took the lead, dodging a random pattern through the city buildings, trying to shake the gaze of the guns. After only a few turns, just enough to show the Tower crown above the wall, the guns rained down on them again and Kezah spun them through alleys and backstreets, anywhere to get away. Desperately Adam thought of Anna’s warning about the Tower being able to track the gargoyles, praying she had been wrong. If she wasn’t, they would be dead in a matter of minutes.

He squeezed his eyes shut with a yelp as the guns clipped the roof of the building to their left, spitting concrete and rebar down on them. Over the thunder of the cascade Adam heard a moaning roar and turned just in time to see Eli tumble beneath a hail of bricks and steel. The gargoyle went limp, unable to fight any longer, giving into his injury in a flash of brilliant, melancholy light. Keziah’s painful scream echoed above Adam’s head, wrenching at his heart.

“Rest well.” He thought fleetingly. He shielded his eyes from a shower of broken glass and steeled himself; mourning would have to wait for them all.

It seemed like an eternity later when the hail of bullets slowed, and then stopped altogether. Keziah’s tricky flying had worked; they had double- and tripled-back on themselves so many times the Tower had lost them. Still keeping low she began to thread their way back to Anna’s flat, overshooting the building to circle around to the fire-escape side and keep the flat between them and the Tower.

Keziah swung Adam none to gently out towards the metal railings where he dangled for a minute before climbing onto the staircase. Anna leapt form her arms, not giving the gargoyle a chance to set her down, and stalked past Adam. She shoved the window of her room open and ducked inside without a word. Keziah landed and took on her human form again, her eyes red and her body tense. They shared a quick, anxious look before stealing inside after Anna.

Their arrival had thrown the flat into confusion. The already-tense occupants were all on their feet, their eyes bouncing from once face to the next as they began talking at once.

Anna’s voice, sharp as cut crystal, silenced every other.

“What’s the status of the feed?” She barked at Cortana. Her hand was beginning to work its way up her scarred shoulder, her nails digging rough trenches as they moved.

Cortana stared at Anna from within the slowly turning mass of holographic screens that surrounded her. Her digital blue eyes were wide as she looked at Anna, no doubt quietly taking readings of her.

“Chief…your levels, you-”

“The _feed_ , Cortana!” Anna shouted, then clenched her jaw and fought to master herself. “How long until we can break with the Tower?”

“We… we could do it now. I have almost everything in their system downloaded and their bugs aren’t far behind me.” Cortana said, her eyes never leaving Anna.

“Disconnect and blow it.” Anna said sharply.

“Blow it?” Adam asked suddenly. “As in, destroy? Anna, there are people in there-”

“Cort, blow it, _now._ ” Anna bellowed.

A whirling red cyclone appeared in front of Cortana.

“No, _wait_!” Adam screamed, dashing towards the AI, but he was too late. Cortna struck the cyclone, which flashed and disappeared. Silence stretched in the flat as they turned their eyes to the Tower.

The lights of the Tower flickered, and from within came several bright flashes of orange light. There was a strange, low sound that hummed across the city; it must have been horribly loud in the citadel but out here in the dead lands it still rattled the walls. Then every light in the citadel went dark. But the Tower still stood, silent and vigilant as ever.

“Confirm.” Anna said in a voice as hard as iron.

Cortana tapped her holographic screens.

“Tower shutdown confirmed, no power running in any systems. Initial scans show heavy damage to internal server banks, no messages incoming or outgoing on any channels. The Tower is dead in the water.”

“What did you do?” Adam growled. Anna didn’t answer.

“EMP bombs.” Cortana said shakily. “Electro-magnetic pulse generators. Every transmitter we gave the gargoyles was equipped with one. We overloaded their electrical systems so they couldn’t backtrack us, find where their information drain was coming from. Essentially, we copied their notes and destroyed the originals. They’ll have backups, of course, but it’ll be weeks before they can correct the damage done. The Tower will be useless to the demons. For now.” She peered at Anna. “You didn’t _tell_ them that was the plan?”

“Slipped my mind.” Anna growled. She was still facing the Tower, her back to the rest of the room. Cortana met Adam’s eyes, worry on every corner of her face.

“Apparently there were quite a few things that did.” Keziah cut in angrily. She was blinking rapidly, and for one terrible moment Adam thought she was going to cry.

“Where is Eli?” Leonore asked suddenly. It was a foolish question, and her face looked grave enough that Adam knew she was asking it only for confirmation; in her heart she already knew the truth. Keziah opened her mouth to answer and shut it again rapidly, choosing instead only to shake her head sadly. Leonore sank slowly back to the couch where she sat, looking small and vulnerable. Magdalene bowed her head. Unnoticed, or ignored, by either of them Ophir crept to Keziah’s side, placing his hands on her shoulders and whispering words of comfort into her ear. Adam turned away, feeling like an intruder on the intimate moment, and wishing he knew how to comfort like that. Anna still wasn’t moving.

“How did he die?” One of the other gargoyles, Nikkia, ventured in a trembling voice. Magdalene lifted her head and stared accusingly at Anna, then at Adam when Anna remained taciturn.

“He was shot.” Adam replied, surprised at how difficult it was for him to say aloud. A small hand worked its way into his and he squeezed it without looking, grateful for Kennedy’s presence, not caring for the moment where she had been hiding. Anna moved at last, dropping the magazine out of the gun that she somehow still had clutched in her fist and discharged the round in the chamber. It clattered to the floor before she scooped it up and tossed it to Magdalene.

The gargoyle’s fist barely curled around the tiny hunk of metal before she dropped it with a sharp cry. Her palm was smoking where the bullet had touched her skin. A deadly hush fell over the room.

“I told you they would develop weapons. The demons can kill you from afar now.” Anna said coldly.

The gargoyles looked at one another, stricken. None of them knew what to say, but Adam knew what they were all thinking; the tide of the war had turned.

Above them all, Cortana quietly shooed away several of her screens, opening one that showed a humanoid figure, hovering quietly behind Anna.

“What happened in there?” the AI asked quietly. “We could hear the gunfire all the way out here…”

The holographic display on Anna’s arm began to whistle shrilly, flashing red. Anna hissed and tapped her arm. The whistle died, but her arm continued to flash an urgent red.

“Anna...” Cortana said, her voice a warning.

Still Anna was silent. Cortana turned to Adam desperately.

“Naberius is alive.” He said roughly. Several of the gargoyles gasped, and Leonore went pale.

“I don’t know how, but he’s possessed Anna’s father. Brought him back to life maybe.” Adam continued and met Cortana’s horrified gaze. “I think it has something to do with Severina.”

Anna stiffened as Cortana whirled on her.

“Anna, drop you levels, _now._ ” She demanded.

“Leave me alone Cortana,” Anna replied, her voice low and warning.

Cortana didn’t take the hint.

“Listen to me,” She hissed, angrier, or perhaps more frightened, than Adam had ever seen her. “I know you’re upset, I get that. But your heart rate is almost at 180 bmp and you have so much adrenaline pumping in your system that it’s reaching toxic levels. You need to drop, right now.”

“Just leave it, Cortana! I don’t need you watching over me like a child!” Anna said shrilly, drawing the gargoyles attention. She whirled and faced Cortana, the two women eye-to-eye, each stubbornly refusing to back down. Adam looked between them, unable to fathom the deeper fight that was taking place and unable to do anything more than stare helplessly.

“Anna, you are _killing_ your body you idiot! I’m don’t care how angry you are, I’m not going to let you hurt yourself because of your father and that bloody fucking Tower!” The AI screamed.

“What the fuck do you care you fucking machine?” Anna exploded.

Adam’s heart plummeted as the words left her mouth.

Machine. She had called Cortana a machine. Her pupils were still pinpoints, making her look otherworldly and insane.

Hurt washed immediately over Cortana’s face, but she hid it as quickly as she could, balling her fists at her sides.

“Then let me perform my function.” Cortana spat back. From within the lab something sprang to life with an ominous hum. A machine that Adam had never seen before reared its head, uncurling spindly metal legs and brandishing a long, barbed needle.

“Drop your levels or so help me, I will _make_ you.”

Anna watched the machine furiously, her jaw clenched so hard Adam wondered that her teeth didn’t crack. Then, without a word, she crossed the room, shoving Magdalene aside where she stood and smashed her fist through the wall, ripping aside plaster and foam insulation.

“What are you doing?” Cortana gasped, terror washing over her features as she watched Anna.

Through the cleared gap in the wall, Adam saw an unassuming black box dotted with rows of glowing lights. Anna gripped the box, throwing a poisonous look over her shoulder.

“Anna, _don’t_!” Cortana screamed and threw her hands forward, maneuvering the crawling machine at her mistress.

“No.” Kennedy whispered and buried her face against Adam’s thigh while he watched, stupefied.

Anna snarled and pulled at the box, ripping it free from the wall with one great wrench of her arm. Cortana howled and appeared to fall in midair, her image shattering into a thousand points of light that disappeared as they hit the solid objects in the room. The insect-machine fell to the floor as she vanished, lifeless. The lights in the flat snapped off and Anna fell against the wall, breathing heavily, her eyes unseeing.

“Get out.” She said hoarsely. “All of you. Get. Out.”

“We have lost a comrade,” Magdalene snapped, “We have a right to the information that he died to-”

“Magdalene.” Leonore rose and placed a hand on her lieutenant’s shoulder, pulling her away from Anna. “We will have our information. We will, however, allow ourselves time to rest and mourn our fallen. It seems to be in order. The demons will no doubt be on the hunt as night falls, and we must look to the defenses of our home. We _will_ return for what is owed us.”

She moved towards the balcony, side-stepping the defunct machine. Then she paused and cast a disparaging glance at Anna.

“Although perhaps we have put too much faith in humans.”

“I said GET OUT!” Anna bellowed, hurling the black box that had been Cortana across the room. It clattered to a stop at Ophir’s feet. Kennedy dropped Adam’s hand and kneeled beside it, stroking the frayed wires with her fingertips. Leonore did not look surprised, only furious and disappointed. The gargoyles followed their queen, ascending the balcony stairs and taking off one by one into the early afternoon.

Adam stood rooted to the spot, watching the madness play over Anna’s face. Something was lurking in the corners of her eyes, a fury that had nothing to do with whatever robotic enhancement she has within her. He struggled with himself; he recognized that fury, that self-loathing. He knew it as intimately as he knew the grip of his kali. The realization rose within him accompanied by a vague idea (from something he only distantly recognized as _not_ Terra) of what he should do. It was uncomfortable, and difficult, and doubt welled in his heart; maybe he wasn’t the one to help her. Maybe…

“Adam?” Ophir called from the balcony. Adam met the gargoyle’s troubled eyes.

Leonore hadn’t offered Adam a place to stay this time. Ophir, however, was. He was offering him a refuge, a way out. Adam almost flung himself at his friend, gratitude and relief threatening to overwhelm him.

But he couldn’t completely tear his eyes away from the gouges Anna was tearing in her arm, the trenches she was drawing vanishing almost instantly under her fingers to be opened again and again.

Suddenly Adam knew he wasn’t leaving.

“Kennedy,” He said hoarsely, nerves choking him. He cleared his throat.

“Kennedy, go with Ophir. There will be many demons in the city tonight, like the queen said. You’ll be safe with the Order.”

“Adam.” Anna hissed from across the room, her eyes closed against him. “I don’t _want_ you here.”

Adam closed his eyes and took a long, slow breath and felt the ghost of a hand from a hundred years ago on his shoulder, steadying, encouraging. And then it was gone.

He opened his eyes.

“Tough.”

Anna’s eyes snapped open and the look she leveled against him would have melted steel. Adam met her gaze, unfaltering, and felt a battle very different from those he was used to begin.

There was a scurrying sound as Kennedy bolted across the room. Adam saw her at the edges of his vision as she leapt into Ophir’s arms and the two of them disappeared from his line of sight. The sound of wing beats echoed back to him and Adam knew he and Anna were alone. Without Cortana, they were for the first time truly alone. There would be no witnesses to whatever happened, and Adam felt slightly less angry at Anna for deactivating the AI. He didn’t want this to be immortalized.

“I said I didn’t want you here.” Anna repeated, not taking her gaze from him as her hands clenched and unclenched.

“And I said tough.” Adam shot back. He sloughed the coat from his shoulders and tossed it carelessly on one of the sofas. His tie followed.

“What the fuck gives you the right?” Anna seethed.

“Cortana was – is – right. You can’t hurt yourself, Anna. Not because of Naberius and definitely not because of your father.” Adam began to move very calmly towards her. “I’m not going to let you. And you’ll find I’m a bit harder to put down than Cortana.”

“Adam, I’m warning you, back off.” Anna cautioned, sounding for a moment genuinely concerned. “You don’t know what you’re dealing with.”

“Yes, you’re right, I don’t. I have wanted to know what I’m dealing with since I woke up with my hands around your neck. If you had come clean with me at the beginning of this maybe I would understand. I had no right to demand it of you, and I won’t now. But I will not let you suffer because of the demons, because of that Tower and whatever ghosts you can’t face in there.”

He was very close to her now; close enough to be looking down at her angry, mad eyes. The calm, concerned look had vanished, what remained was only fury and the tiniest spark of something Adam refused to recognize as hate. Without warning she reeled back with a screamed and slugged him across the face, staggering him backwards.

Adam had never, _never_ been hurt by a bare handed human before. If he had been in another time, with anyone else, he would have stopped the fight and bought them a beer. He felt like laughing as the first trickle of blood dripped from his nose.

Anna didn’t give him a chance. She leaped on him with another scream and tackled him to the ground, reducing him to pure instinct in the fury of her attack. He lashed out at her, cringing as he accidently hurled her from him to smash against a table.

He needn’t have worried; she was up again in a matter of seconds. She lunged at him with a snarl and they rolled across the floor in a tangle of limbs. The shirt Adam wore split across his shoulders as they struggled. They knocked aside furniture and tore up chunks of wood flooring where their blows missed one another. Anna tore at Adam’s throat with all the viciousness of a wild animal and he found himself struggling against the urge to let go and truly fight her. If this went on much longer he would, achieving nothing but satisfying her strange desire to hurt herself.

With a grunt he worked his hands around her wrists and twisted his body, ignoring her shout of frustration as his weight won out and he slammed her against the floor with her hands firmly secured over her head, her legs pinned between his knees. Adam leaned forward, putting all his weight on her arms as she struggled to push herself upright.

“I am not going to fight you.” Adam said, allowing anger to color his voice. In response Anna growled and twisted her hips, getting loose of the vice of his legs and aiming a kick at him. Only very quick thinking and a rapid twist of his own hips saved Adam from a solid shot to his groin.

Instead Anna’s kick connected with his pelvic joint, shooting his leg out from under him. With all him weight forward, Adam simply collapsed on top of her, knocking the air from her lungs as he bashed his face against the floor next to her head.

He took advantage of her temporary incapacitation to work one of his legs between hers, not wanting to dodge another kick. He remained on top of her, chest-to-chest, using the one advantage he had over her and letting his weight keep her trapped. He clamped his knees once more around her trapped leg while her free one kicked awkwardly at his shins.

Still she struggled, digging her nails into his hands and snapping at his face with her teeth.

“Fuck you!” Anna screamed as the first hot, angry tears began to course down her cheeks. Adam shut his eyes against the wave of pity that rushed against him at the desperation in her voice.

“Stop.” He pleaded, pressing his mouth against her ear. He maneuvered her wrist so he could stroke the side of her face with his thumb.

“Anna, just stop.” Adam said again, softer.

Slowly, she did stop, her body coming to a tense stillness like a coiled spring. She was shaking underneath him, her holographic still flashing irritatingly in his eyes. Anna sobbed, her chest heaving against his as she tried to chorale her emotions.

Moments passed and their breath evened, the haze of anger clearing from Adam’s eyes. When it did he became startlingly aware of just how close they were and the press of her chest beneath him was too much to bear. He flushed and chided himself – _not_ the time - and cautiously rose onto his forearms, Anna wrists still clutched in his hands. He did not, however, release her leg forcing their lower halves together immodestly.

For the moment Anna didn’t seem to notice or care, for which Adam was grateful. She glared at him form the floor.

“Fuck you.” She whispered again.

Adam shook his head.

“I’m not going to be the tool you use to hurt yourself with.” He said firmly. She rolled her eyes.

“What the hell does it matter, I’ll heal.” She spat, although she wasn’t meeting his eyes now.

“It matter because you are punishing yourself for something that isn’t your fault.” Adam insisted, and then decided to go for broke. “That man dying in the Tower wasn’t your fault.”

It was a gamble that worked. Anna’s face twisted and for a few second she was able to hold back the tears. Then she sobbed, the tears leaking from her eyes despite how hard she squeezed them shut.

“His name was _Ezra_.” She hissed accusingly at him, and something in the way she said the name made Adam’s heart sink a little.

“Ezra died because of me.”

“He died because Severina jammed a needle full of nanites in his neck.”

“He died because of _me_.” Anna screamed, kicking her free leg against the floor and causing the heel of her shoe to break, clattering off into some corner of the flat.

“If I hadn’t come back, he’d still be alive! All of my friends that followed me into the war, they’d still be alive, they’d all still be alive if he hadn’t brought me _back_!”

And suddenly Adam realized they were no longer talking about today. 

“If he hadn’t brought you back, I would be dead right now.” He said quietly.

Anna blinked at him, nonplussed, and Adam’s heart gave a little leap of hope; maybe he had broken through.

But then she shook her head, banging it against the floor a little. And in her hurt and anger, Anna said quiet possibly the stupidest thing she could have said.

“You don’t understand, Adam. I’m a walking corpse, I shouldn’t be alive.”

Adam stared at her, and let go of his hold on the anger that had been bubbling beneath his skin.

“OF COURSE I UNDERSTAND.” He bellowed, shocking her into silence. Any other day he would have been ashamed of the fear that flashed across her face, but today he relished it, gripping it like a weapon.

“That’s why you kept me here in the beginning, isn’t it? The only part of my story that surprised you was the demons. Everything else I am? You were hoping for somebody who would understand, who would know what its like to have your body be ripped apart and put back together, to wake up alive _and_ dead. I know what its like to be an alien inside your own skin and to feel like every breath you take is a farce. To have the one person who should look at you with love and kindness hate you and abhor you and shun you like a monster. A failed experiment. I spent two hundred years alone feeling the weight of all that and being surrounded by humanity mocking me with its similarities and shunning me for our differences. Wanting to be close and keeping everyone at fingers’ length. Don’t you _dare_ look me in the eye and tell me I can’t understand what you’re feeling. For God’s sake Anna, _of course I understand._ ”

Adam’s breath hitched in his throat. He stopped talking abruptly and pressed his forehead to hers, nearly sobbing when he felt her press back. He released her wrists and moved his hand to encircle hers as she entangled her fingers in his hair.

“Then tell me what to do.” She whispered, her voice thick with desperation. “If you understand tell me what to do, how to live with myself without hating every breath and feeling like I don’t deserve to be here.”

How could he answer that? He had made peace with what he was decades ago, and he hadn’t the words to articulate how he had achieved it. It had been a combination of defeating Naberius, discovering his soul and by extension, his purpose. And in no small part, Terra.

Adam opened his eyes.

Anna’s face was lit with the slow red pulse of the holographics, the tears’ tracks like rivers of blood on her cheeks. Her eyes were moving rapidly beneath her eyelids, and Adam knew if she opened them he’d see the crazy, solid grey gaze looking back at him. They were only a breath apart now with their foreheads pressed together. It was closer than Adam had been to a human, _any_ human, in nearly two centuries. Part of him, the part that rankled at the embers of his unanswered questions, wanted to surge forward and close the gap between them as he had wanted to do for a week and let whatever happened afterward happen. The answers didn’t matter that much did they? Wasn’t it enough that they were both broken in their own ways? He could duck his head, touch his lips to hers and let them both pretend for a moment that the brokenness didn’t matter, that it wasn’t even there…

‘And what, exactly, would that do?’

The voice cut bluntly across Adam’s mind, arresting all thought.

It wasn’t Terra.

For the first time in a hundred years, the voice in his head was his own.

‘You think that will help her?’ the voice asked. ‘Just pretending it isn’t there? It’s what she’s been doing for the past fifty years and look what one reminder did to her. You want to help her, that’s not the way to do it, and you know it. So corral yourself, and kill your selfishness. Don’t be a monster. Give her what you should have had every time you had to crawl out of the mud of your own self-loathing. Stop her from hurting herself. Not because you owe her, not because your scars match. But because you love you.’

And looking down at Anna, Adam knew that it was true.

He slowly raised himself up to sit on his heels; Anna’s fingers dragging reluctantly down his chest as she opened her eyes, confused and angry. He peered back at her and the ghost of an idea materialized and became real. The voice in his head looked it over, smiled, and nodded.

“Hunt with me.” Adam said.

Anna blinked at him, the anger and hurt dropping from her face in surprise.

“…What?” she exclaimed in a soft voice from the floor.

A smirk crept across Adam’s face.

“You made fun of me for being flustered when you figured things out for yourself. So figure it out, _Doctor_. What the hell do you think I’ve been doing every night since I got here? The city is crawling with demons, and tonight they’ll be out in force. Looking for you.”

Anna’s face changed, like he knew it would. Surprise morphed into wide-eyed realization and she sat up quickly, almost colliding with him. He steadied her, both his hands on her shoulders.

“I do understand. Not everything, not like I want to. But I _do_ understand. I know that fire, the fury, wanting to tear everything apart. Including yourself. I’m not going to let you do that to yourself.” He said, moving his hands to her face. “And I’m not going to do it for you, or let you tear into me. But the demons?”

He let the dark, angry smile spread across his face.

“The demons are fair game.”

She was panting now, her nostrils flaring and her full-moon eyes locking into his.

“We need to get to the other side of the city. Far away from the flat or they might track us back here. Change your clothes, and we’ll go.”

Anna practically ran, tripping over her broken heel. She paused and tore the shoe from her foot and limped to her room.

Adam breathed a shaky sigh and rose, following her path until it split to the staircase to his own room. He changed as quickly as he could and returned to the main room of the flat, swinging his new coat over his shoulders. His kali clinked comfortingly in their hidden pocket and he perched on the arm of the sofa, pulling at his gloves and swallowing the uncertainties that were trying to distract him.

He would need his wits now more than he had in the Tower.

 

 

 

 

Adam searched long and hard before he found a part of the city that was both far enough away from Anna’s flat and festering with enough demons to serve his purpose. They had run for hours, burning daylight until they found a spot, Anna following his lead silently.

She hadn’t spoken since she had reappeared from her room, clad in a worn jumpsuit the color of dried blood and black boots. There were three small tears in the cloth- two below her ribs and one directly over her heart- encircled by faded stains that Adam had to bite his tongue to keep from asking about. The patch on the shoulder of the suit told him enough: A filigreed ‘N’, for Nocturne, a name he’d heard of but never had cause to delve further into. He’d ignored the roar of the fire built of his unanswered questions and motioned Anna out the door.

The nest he finally found almost at the edge of the city barely lasted ten minutes. Anna dove into them like a mad whirlwind, taking almost as many blows as she gave, rising each time with her mad grey eyes to face down the next demon who dared to come up against her. She raced among the columns of fire with a furious glee, leaving Adam trailing in her wake to finish off demons she had only glanced in her insane rush.

He watched her with a kind of grim fascination; she fought like he had in the early days of his hunting. She was brutal, unforgiving and singularly terrifying.

‘Was that how I looked?’ he wondered to himself as he drew his kali back from another explosion of ash and embers. ‘No wonder people were afraid of me… no wonder…’

And yet he couldn’t stop watching her. A strange, new feeling began to wind its way around his mind and it wasn’t until they struck the same demon, vanquishing it together, and Anna broke her mad spree to flash him a smile that rocked him to the core that he realized what it was.

In all his dreams of a companion, the long lonely nights before he knew anything of demons and their ilk, he had never envisioned this. He had imagined that the one Frankenstein created for him would run with him to hide away from the world, the two of them alone together far from the condemning eyes of any human.

He had never dreamed of fighting side-by-side with anyone, not even Ophir and Keziah despite their long and complicated history of maybe-we-are-maybe-we-aren’t friendship. But he and Anna moved through the demon nests under the hazy glow of the long-dead moon tossing demons back and forth to each other, dancing around each other’s footwork as though they’d done it for years. It made Adam feel surprisingly vulnerable, like when she had examined his kali on the floor of her flat what seemed like hundreds of years ago, Anna was again stepping into a part of his life he never expected to share with someone. Rather than wanting to shut that feeling off, put it at arm’s length and never think of it again he hungered after it. Craved it like he never knew he could.

Fighting the demon horde had become his identity, and he had wrestled more than once with how much further it separated him from humanity. From _Terra_. He had accepted the burden because no one else could, accepted that loneliness would always be a part of his life. It was half the reason he still heard Terra’s voice in his head, because he had always been, and thought he would always be, alone.

He had been wrong. As the night wore on he allowed that very careful bloom of hope, which had begun to wither in the past week with Anna’s coldness, to raise its head once again. He had never imagined this. But catching Anna’s smile once more he grinned back; God but this was _good._

They fought for hours, demolishing nest after nest. When they encountered rogue demons in between nests they utterly destroyed them. Adam hadn’t fought like this since his early days; frantically moving from one kill to the next, not pausing before looking for the next demon. It would take it toll after a while, he knew. He’d regretted this kind of fighting on more than one occasion in his past (and it usually ended with a lecture from Ophir) but for Anna’s sake he kept on, grinding out one kill after another, hanging back as much as he could to watch over her.

Adam thought she’d never tire, but when she finally did the effect was almost immediate. He saw it happen from across the floor of the warehouse they had found themselves in after tracking a few demons who had escaped the last nest. She took a nasty blow across her face and reeled back, stunned.

Blood gushed from the wound. Adam waited for the weird lights to cluster at the edges, but they never came. The wound wasn’t healing itself. Despite Adam’s mystification about Anna’s strange abilities it still took him aback to see her staggering and injured. Her body had been a blaze of green fairy light the entire night. Now the blood flowed thick and sluggish down her face, the gash glaring out from under her hair. Adam immediately drew closer to her, knowing the inevitable was near.

The remaining demon took advantage of Anna’s stupor and swept her feet out from under her with a sickening crack. She went down with and cry and in an instant Adam was standing over her, his kali in the cyclone of fire that erupted as he defended her and descended the last of their enemies. In a matter of second, they were alone.

Adam knelt next to the doctor. She was sitting upright, clutching the leg the demon had struck. She shook off his concerned look with a shrug.

“It’ll…heal…” She said with difficulty. She wasn’t quite panting, but she was clearly having trouble breathing, taking long slow draws of the stale, ash-ridden air of the warehouse and swaying slightly with every breath. The holographics on her arm pulsed frantically.

“Anna,” Adam said softly. She cringed at the sound of his voice, curling around her injured leg with her eyes pointed at the ground. At first Adam thought she was afraid, but her body language was all wrong. This was… Embarrassment. Adam almost laughed as some on the tensions eased from his shoulders.

The concern for her wounds (and the fact that she didn’t appear to be healing) remained, but that she was embarrassed rather than afraid, or angry… It was a gift. The fleeting thought that it was also adorable skipped across his mind only to be stamped down along with the pity that had also sent curling tendrils into Adam’s subconscious; he had more respect for Anna than that. She had fought to exhaustion rather than destroy herself; he wouldn’t compound her embarrassment by demeaning her.

“Anna,” he coaxed, “Is it safe to… to keep your levels this high?”

He indicated her flashing arm clumsily. After a few silent minutes she bit her lip.

“I… shouldn’t stay cranked.” She finally ground out. “But I don’t know… what state I’ll be in… if I drop.”

Anna met his gaze timidly.

“Leg’s fucked. Not broken, but can’t walk on it.” She admitted uneasily.

“I’ll get you home.” Adam said gently. He met her eyes with a kind smile.

Anna held his gaze for a moment longer and then moved to tap her arm, dragging the flashing lines towards the crook of her elbow. Her lungs expanded as she gasped, and immediately her pupils dilated, her head lolling back. She slumped over without a word and Adam had to scramble to keep her head from smacking against the concrete. He pressed his finger to her neck in a mild panic, finding her pulse –strong, but slow- and felt her breathing steady itself.

He laid her shakily on the floor and stashed his kali in his new coat, now covered in ash and small tears. Gathering her gently into his arms he rose, hefting one of her arms over his shoulder. As he stood she moaned and pressed her face against his neck, working her hand up to clutch weakly at his collar.

Adam’s heart tripped on itself and he unconsciously held her close, striding from the warehouse into the shadows of the city.

Only one demon accosted them as Adam made his way back to the flat. He didn’t even see it until it leapt at him with a howl. Adam wrapped himself around Anna’s prone body, putting his back to the blow that never fell. A rush of fire startled Adam and he turned back to see the last thing he expected: Keziah, in gargoyle form, standing in the pile of ash that had been Adam’s assailant. From overhead Adam heard wing beats. Ophir.  

Keziah tapped near her eye and then pointed skyward before launching herself back into the night. Adam nearly wept; they had almost certainly defied Leonore to help him save Anna. He fought back tears and continued doggedly onward as flashes of red and orange lit the night all around him.

Anna’s building was mercifully silent. They hadn’t been tracked, and the haven that Adam had found –he refused to sue the word home, albeit with more and more reluctance- was still safe.

Without Cortana and her ever-watchful security systems the doors yielding to Adam’s touch and he found himself once again trudging down the littered hallway to the pitch black stair. He cursed quietly when he opened the stairwell door; he had not thought to bring his flashlight. The upward climb was a slow, fumbling journey but Anna did not stir. When he finally opened the door again he sighed: floor seven had never looked so good. For a moment Adam was lulled into nostalgia by the soft glow emanating from under Anna’s door.

Then his stomach turned to ice as he registered what he was seeing and all of his sense came awake. He crept slowly towards the door and pressed his ear against the metal, still warm from the long-gone sunset.

Someone was muttering within, too softly for Adam to distinguish any words. There was a clatter and a clanging sound, followed by a loud curse in Russian. Adam released a breath he didn’t know he had been holding, a tired smile creeping across his face.

He kicked at the door with a booted foot.

“Kit!” He called. “It’s Adam, open the door!”

There was a scramble from inside the flat, then the sound of something heavy being moved away from the door which flew open a moment later to reveal a frazzled Kit who looked a few seconds from either bursting into tears or laughing.

To his credit, the boy did neither, taking stock of the situation in once glance and swallowing whatever emotions had been threatening to overtake him and beckoned Adam inside.

“Lab.” He said tersely. Adam was only too happy to comply, relieved to be able to turn the situation over to someone who had a firmer grasp on the underlying mysteries of it than he did. He even forgave the string of questions punctuated by curses that streamed from Kit’s mouth.

“How long has she been like this?” Kit asked catching up the portable lantern from where he had camped on the floor. Adam gingerly laid Anna on the lab table before answering.

“She passed out after she dropped her levels.” He said, smoothing Anna’s hair away from her head wound gently.

“Shit.” Kit muttered, lifting the lantern with one hand and carefully pulling open Anna’s eyelids with the other. “How long was she cranked?”

“Almost since she called you from the Tower.” Adam recalled. “Hours…”

Kit grimaced, but some of the worry left his face as he watched Anna’s eye slowly move in the light.

“Will she be…” Adam asked quietly, unable to articulate exactly what he was afraid of. Kit, however seemed to understand. He prodded the edges of Anna’s cut with the tips of his fingers, then clicked the lantern off.

“Look” he said in the darkness.

Adam’s eyes strained until finally he saw them; the green fairy lights, dimly pulsing at the edges of the wound.

“She exhausted herself, exhausted her supply of material to regenerate damaged cells. She’ll be alright, but she’ll need to be patched up.” Kit flipped the light back on. “Which we’ll have to do the old fashioned way, without Cortana…” Kit swallowed uneasily. “Adam… what _happened_?”

Adam shook his head.

“Anna got angry. Cortana got in the way.” He said gruffly. Exhaustion was beginning to catch up with him and he barely felt able to stand much less relive everything that had passed only a few hours ago. Kit looked as if he wanted to argue, but he shut his mouth and turned abruptly, digging in one of the cabinets.

“Help me patch her up.” He said stiffly. Adam was only too happy to oblige.

Kit proved to be a skilled nurse, cleaning and bandaging Anna’s cut quickly after determining that she would need no stitching. Adam helped where he could, but he found himself too distracted by how ashen Anna’s complexion had gone, how the life seemed to have drained from her though he saw her chest rising and falling rhythmically.

“She needs a nutripack IV.” Kit said, cutting through the haze of Adam’s thoughts. “Take her into her room and put her on the bed, I’ll get everything ready.”

Taking Anna into his arms again Adam did as he was told, laying her in her own bed amongst a pile of pillows. Who needed so many pillows? He glanced down in the glow from her windows at where her boots left streaks of mud on the sheets and dutifully began to untie the laces, working the stiff shoes from her feet. Ignoring the heat that rose to his cheeks he unbuttoned her jumpsuit to her waist revealing her skintight undershirt beneath it. Adam gently pulled the rough fabric from her shoulders and tucked it beneath her as he laid her back against the cushions. He rolled her sleeves to her elbow in preparation for Kit, letting his hand linger for a moment on the scars of her right arm, wondering if he had done the right thing, hoping she would wake soon and tell him herself that he had.

Adam stayed with her long enough for Kit to set up and insert the IV with the nutrient-rich serum that would, they both hoped, help speed her recovery process. He waved off Kit’s attempts to treat the numerous cuts and scrapes he had incurred as they made their way back into the main room of the flat.

“I’ve had worse.” Adam grimaced, stretching his arms. He expected a giggle at the back of his mind from Terra. But there was only silence.  

“What about you?” He asked Kit quickly, dodging the implications of Terra’s sudden quiet. “How did you get out of the citadel?”

“I’ve been getting in and out of the citadel for years. My family… I mean my parents and sister… they’re still in the citadel. I just used an old maintenance chute. It took me a few hours but I made my way back here and everyone was gone, the building was dark…” He looked sadly at the black box. “Did we get the information, at least?”

“Yes.” Adam replied. “And the Tower is useless. Anna’s plan worked. When will we be able to extract Naberius’s plans?”

Kit shifted uneasily on his feet.

“Without Cortana? We can’t. There are billions of pieces of data to sort through, only she can do it. I’ve been trying to fix her but I haven’t ever worked with a system like hers before.”

Adam felt as though the wind had been knocked out of him. He staggered against the kitchen counter.

“Then this was all…for nothing?”

“I’m going to keep trying.” Kit said quickly. “I haven’t given up yet. And Anna might wake up tomorrow good as new and she’ll help me and then we can get to work dashing whatever the demons had planned, yeah?”

The boy laid a hand on Adam’s shoulder.

“Look, Adam…Get some rest. I’ll keep working and keep watch. I’ll let you know if anything changes with Anna.”

Adam didn’t even bother replying. He let his coat fall to the floor, the kali clanging dully. Not caring for once that he would be exposed and vulnerable in his sleep, he sprawled facedown on the largest couch in the flat’s living room, drifting to sleep to the sounds of Kit’s tools working in the night.  


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So um... I'm not dead. :D Two chapters for those who asked for it, the others are on their way. Enjoy!

Three days.

Three interminable days. Adam thought he would go insane, standing over Anna’s prone form. Watching Kit replace her nutri-packs. Listening to the sound of her slow breathing, like a dying woman. Letting his fingers ghost over her hand, cold under his touch.

Unable to do anything but wait.

He’d never been good at waiting.

The bandages Kit had slapped to her wounds had been stripped off after the first day, the cuts beneath them gone. Hope had leapt in Adam’s chest, only to stifle as Anna continued to lay there like the dead. Out of his reach.

Finally, he banished himself from the room, unable or unwilling to watch her die, if that was indeed what she was doing. He grit his teeth, sliding the door to his room shut harder than he had meant to.

Anna wasn’t a mere mortal. Kit and Kennedy would die. But Anna wasn’t like them.

The bed shifted as he sat down and put his head in his hands, fighting the despair that was gaining ground inch by inch within his heart.

Anna would pull through.

She _had_ to.

Adam kicked his boots off and climbed forcefully onto the mattress, wrapping sleep around him like a shield.

The dreams came on thicker and faster than Adam expected. He had hoped he wouldn’t dream. But of course, he did. Not quite nightmares, no, not this time. It was all endless alleys and corridors, demons and fire and war. And wild grey eyes.

He awoke with a start and for a moment didn’t know where he was. He remembered, vaguely, stumbling up to his room at some point in the interminable stretch of hours after he had collapsed. That could have been days ago. As groggy as he felt, he would believe it; the fight had taken more out of him than he had thought. Perhaps he was truly getting old.

Anna would laugh at that. Adam closed his eyes again. He didn’t want to think about Anna. Kit had never come to get him. Maybe nothing had changed. Maybe she was still asleep. Maybe she would never wake up. A tremor ran through him as the memory of Terra’s death – she had been so still, in her endless sleep- rose in his mind and he opened his eyes again, afraid of the specters that crowded his vision.

Blue light met his eyes. A blue glow moved slowly across the walls, illuminating the dust motes in an incredibly familiar way. He peered at the light, trying to organize his thoughts. Where had he seen that blue light before… where…? And suddenly his brain was fully awake, propelling him upright with a desperately hopeful gasp.

“Morning sunshine.” Cortana said timidly, a sad smile spreading across her face. She was crouched outside his bedroom door, as close to him as she could reach, her knees tucked up under her chin. Adam stared at her, joy and relief and confusion jockeying for position at the forefront of his thoughts. He couldn’t speak for a moment, glancing out the window to hide the jumble of emotion.

“Sunrise or sunset?” He stuttered, unable to fully articulate everything he wanted to say. Cortana seemed to understand and followed his gaze to the reddish glow competing with her own.

“Sunset. Four days after…” She fell silent, a dark look passing over her face. Adam nodded, not needing her to go on.

“Kit fixed you?” he asked.

“No…” The AI said slowly. “Anna did.”

“Anna? She’s awake?” Adam said, springing to his feet.

Cortana didn’t move, her eyes on the floor.

“Yes.” She replied quietly.

Adam paused, his joy dissolving. He waited, watching Cortana’s face until she finally drew her eyes up to his.

“She woke up this morning. Sent Kit home and went to work on me.” She sighed. “Can’t scan her, so don’t ask me if she’s all right. She might have disabled my ability to scan to get me out of her head, I don’t know. I’m not fully functional. I might not be ever again.”

“She wouldn’t do that.” Adam said quietly.

“I don’t know that anymore.” Cortana said sadly, anger coloring only the edges of her voice.

“I don’t know.” She repeated, softer this time. She looked helplessly up at Adam. Equally helpless, he watched her fight back tears that would never come.

“I’ve been watching over you since she hooked me up to the projectors again.” The AI finally said.  “She didn’t follow me up.”

She was trying to make it sound like she didn’t care, and Adam’s first instinct was to leave it at that. But something in him held him in place. There was a strange kinship between Cortana and him now, and he found he couldn’t walk away quite as easily as he may have weeks ago.

“Will you forgive her?” Adam asked softly.

Cortana didn’t answer right away, but ever so slowly she looked over her shoulder, in the direction of the stairs and the main room of the flat.

“Not yet.” She said brokenly. “Maybe. But… not yet. Whatever you did, you probably saved Anna’s life, you know. I’m grateful for that. I didn’t… I _don’t_ want her to die. You understand that, right? I don’t want her dead but I… I can’t forgive her.”

She turned back to him.

“Is that bad?” She asked, her voice laced with a very specific fear, one Adam recognized; the fear of being a monster.

“It’s… human” Adam replied. He met her watery gaze with the barest hint of a smile; all he could manage. Cortana nodded after a moment, the corners of her mouth twitching upwards.

“Go talk to her.” She said. “She needs somebody, and it’s not going to be me. Not yet.”

Released from the small moment of camaraderie, Adam moved to the stairs. Cortana rose as he passed but remained where she was.

“I’m processing the data from Nerium.” Cortana said suddenly, halting him at the top of the stairs. “I… My fight with Anna doesn’t mean _that_ fight has to stop. And…She might want to give up right now. You can’t let her give up, Adam. I never… I never thought I’d be able to… to love somebody and still be angry with them like this. But you can’t let her give up, okay? Don’t let her give up.”

Without looking at her Adam nodded and continued on. Behind him Cortana returned to the floor, clasping her hands around her knees once again.

The lights had returned to the flat with Cortana’s reawakening, but only one illuminated the lab. Anna was seated, much as she had been the night he had stumbled into her life, with her back to the balcony and to Nerium Tower that stood dead and silent in the middle of the citadel. It still had not regained its power from their attack.

Adam could not help watching her. Her hair was one great red tangle and he knew if he walked by her it would still smell of ash and fire. None of her wounds remained; there wasn’t even a scar on her head.

She wasn’t working. She had opened a small holographic projection in front of her, a small rectangle of light through which she either could not see or was too engaged to notice Adam’s slow approach. Laughter bubbled from the video and figures swung into view.

One of them was Anna, younger than she looked now, smiling broadly, her exposed arms unscarred. Before she had been reanimated, then, many years by the look of it. Next to her, much to Adam surprise sat Severina, her arm thrown lazily over Anna’s shoulders. She looked different than she did in the Tower. Younger, yes, but softer. Less dangerous, just a very beautiful girl. She looked… well… Nice. Severina rested her head on Anna’s shoulder, giggling and talking to someone off-camera.

The camera was set down and two more girls came into view; a blond with a roguish smile and a nervous- looking girl with jet-black hair.

“Guys, I really don’t think we should…” the ebony-haired girl began timidly.

“Come _on_ Anna!” Severina exclaimed, nudging the girl with her elbow.  “Midterms are over, we deserve a bit of a break.” 

So, this was the _real_ Anna, Adam had to remind himself. Anna Hui looked around the table they were sitting at with wide eyes.

“But Janelle… vodka?” she asked in a small voice.

“Yyyup!” The blonde- Janelle- said, bringing to bottle into view with considerable flourish. The words “blueberry flavored” danced across the bottle and Adam grimaced.

“Lizzie, would you do the honors?”

Anna- _Elizabeth Desormeaux_ \- shoved Severina playfully away and produced four glasses, pouring a dangerous amount into each glass and sliding it to her friends. In the present-day Anna- _Elizabeth-_ chuckled behind the hologram, bringing a hand up to her mouth to hide the melancholy smile breaking over her face.

“Alright ladies,” Severina said, rising to her feet. “Here’s to the end of term! On three alright? One, two three!”

The four girls knocked back the liquor with all the grace of a trainwreck. Anna Hui immediately sputtered and spit her back into the glass. The others fared little better and the video devolved into a confused maelstrom of coughing and gagging.

“Ugh, it went up my nose!” somebody gasped. Adam couldn’t tell which of the girls it was, but a rough chuckle escaped Anna’s lips.

“You idiots…” she murmured through her hands. A tear wound its way down her cheek and she swiped the hologram away, finally noticing Adam in the dim apartment. Her smile vanished.

Relief flooded him as he looked at her, coupled with a nervousness he had not anticipated. He clenched his fists, beating back his nerves and strode forward into the light.

Anna raised her head as he approached and swallowed hard, her hands frozen above her tools. She looked like she was torn between bolting towards him and fleeing out the balcony. He wished she would do the former; that would at least answer one of his questions.

But instead she wiped the tears from her face and looked guiltily down at the pile of tools in front of her.

“I was fxing Cortana and I found some old memory files. I hadn’t looked at them in ages and I.... I got distracted.”

Her voice was small and pale, and terrified. In it Adam heard all of her regret, and he dropped his eyes, feeling like an intruder.

“Cortana told me about Eli.” Anna’s voice was barely more than a whisper. “I hadn’t remembered. Actually, I didn’t even think of him. Or Keziah.”

Adam met her haunted, tired grey eyes.

“Did I hurt you?” She asked him, her voice both heartbreaking and terrifying.

“You fought me.” Adam admitted after a pause. “You were trying to get me to fight you.”

Anna closed her eyes and nodded.

“Sounds like me.” She said wryly, but her eyes remained closed and her face pained. Neither of them spoke for a while.

“I…remember telling you that you didn’t understand what I was going through.” She sighed and rose, crossing to the kitchen and pouring herself a cup of coffee. Adam didn’t move, watching her with only the slightest turn of his head.

Her movements were stiff. Pained. Like when he’d first been born.

“You were right.” Anna began again. “What you said… That I wanted you to stay because I thought you’d understand. You were right. And… I think it’s part of the reason I let this happen. Why I led you all into the Tower like I did.”

She took a deep, shaky breath.

 “I should have told you. You should have known what you were going into before we even went into the Tower.”

She blinked rapidly, trying to fight the tears that were welling in her eyes.

“You need to know that this is my fault. Eli and Ezra’s deaths are on me, maybe many more besides. I put you and Keziah and Eli in danger and I didn’t think twice. I should have told you… I should have but I got… after I knew about the demons I was…just.”

“Consumed.” Adam said quietly.

Anna closed her eyes, her lip pressed together. She nodded and wiped away the tears that hadn’t fallen yet. She laced her fingers together and rested her lips against the knuckles.

Adam waited for her to collect herself, forced himself to bite his tongue as the tears gathered in her eyes, until he couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Why?” He finally asked. “Nerium has been here for decades, and you’ve been here the whole time. Why did the demons suddenly drive you back into the Tower?”

She regarded him with grave eyes and dropped her hands to the table.

“Alright. All the cards on the table then.” She finally said, “Sit down. This is going to take a while.”

Dragging a chair from the kitchen, Adam sat opposite Anna at the lab table and waited. The answers to his questions spilled from her mouth, haltingly at first and then flowing steadily without ceasing as the sunset faded beyond the horizon and the dead city marched onward to midnight.

 

 

 

 

“My family escaped America when I was very young. Ten or eleven I think, a long time ago now. My father’s work had become dangerous and we were no longer safe in the land of the free, home of the brave. It hit Raymond Desormeaux really hard. My father came from a broken home, you see. He and his mother had to run from his father one night and hide out with friends. Bad man, my grandfather.

Dad was a consummate pacifist. He wanted to stop the war all on his own. He thought if he could just find a way to equalize the differences between humanity and technology, everybody would just get along. In a lot of ways, he was right. The nanotech he was building was all set to bridge the gap. Nanotech’s impermanence, that it could be injected to do its work and then expelled, was the best of both sides of the argument. The UK was a perfect launching point too. They wanted to keep the peace between the US and China, and they practically threw money at him to make it work. It almost did. Dad helped set treaties in motion, previewed nanite plants and laws concerning their capabilities. He almost single-handedly stopped the war.”

Anna’s smiled was bittersweet and clouded with memory.

“At the time I didn’t care. Not about the brewing war, and not about dad’s dreams. All I knew was that I was in a new place and I was very lonely. People either treated me like I was the crazy American or like the china doll to be ooh-ed and aah-ed over. I hated it. _Hated_ it. Until Mom started bringing me to work.”

She lifted her hand and tapped a holographic display. A picture of a pale, red-haired woman flickered into the air. Adam recognized her from the video Anna had played of Nerium’s groundbreaking.

“Her name was Natalie, and she was a genius. Smarter than my dad by far. Most of the company’s designs were hers, but she had no head for business and she was incredibly shy.”

Fondness, in Anna’s voice. Love. Regret.

“From the time I was about 13 I practically lived in Nerium’s workshops. Before the Tower was built we had and endless line of warehouses I could get lost in, so Mom started giving me projects to keep me occupied. Little things at first, and then after the Tower was built bigger and more extensive stuff. When I wasn’t in school I helped her develop some of the most sophisticated nanotech the world had ever seen.”

She rubbed her face with her hands.

“It was pretty much a given that I was going to take over Nerium when my dad retired from the board, so they sent me to University. To, ah… “refine my skills” as dad put it.”

Anna scowled and was quiet for a moment.

“You didn’t want to go?” Adam asked timidly.

“No, I did.” Anna said, frustration coloring her voice. “I did, and I wanted to take over Nerium because it was easy, and I could be very comfortable ordering people around for the rest of my life.”

The venom in her words took Adam by surprise, curiosity billowing like smoke through him. He held his tongue, not wanting to give her a reason to stop talking.

“I went to school and I made friends… My first real friend since moving to the UK.” She blinked rapidly, biting her lip. “Sev, Janelle, and-“

“Anna.” Adam finished softly. “Anna Hui.”

Anna grimaced and nodded.

“We were pretty much joined at the hip until we graduated. Janelle joined the Marines, and I brought Anna and Severina back to Nerium. Anna was nearly as good with nanotech as my mother and Severina…” She hesitated.

“Well, you saw her. She has a way with people. Or she _used_ to, it didn’t used to be so calculating. So cold. She could smile at you and you’d want to do anything for her.”

Anna’s eyes drifted over her shoulder, towards Nerium Tower.

“I wish I knew when that changed…” Her voice floated back to Adam wistfully.  

For a few moments, Anna was quiet. Adam resisted the urge to tap his foot, or crack his knuckles, or fidget, anything that would break the heavy silence until Anna finally turned back around with a small but understanding smile.

“I promise this is all relevant.” She said sheepishly. “I’m not just waxing nostalgic.”

Adam shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest, hoping that would still the nervous energy that was buzzing through his muscles.

“So, Elizabeth Desormeaux, Anna Hui and Severina Ramos went to the Tower and lived happily ever after. Nerium was going to save the world with its technology and the war was going to be averted and I’d grow up and grow old and die as the favorite daughter of the greatest man the world has ever known.” Anna said, and barked a bitter laugh. “At least that’s how it was supposed to be. Then there was the accident.”

Anna tapped her table again and a series of holographic news reports flashed into the air, the reporters’ mouths moving silently, the Tower standing ominously behind them in the distance. Some of them showed pictures of fire in the night, the wreckage of what might have once been a car. “Nerium’s First Family Struck by Tragedy” read the scrolling text at the bottom. Adam’s hands slowly fell to his sides.

“We were driving back from a supply convention. Mom and me. I was asleep.” Anna’s voice had become stilted, hard, as if she hadn’t used it in decades. Adam supposed she hadn’t, for this story. It was as if she was struggling to brush the dirt off some ancient artifact, long since buried.

“I think officially the crash was ruled accidental. But there was so little left of… everything… that I don’t think they were ever certain. Dad had enemies after all, people who wanted to get rich off selling war machines. Our driver was killed instantly, the front of the car was crushed into nothing. He was lucky. Mom…”

Anna’s voice broke and she turned her eyes to the table. Adam made as if to rise from his chair, then held himself back. It felt cruel, but he wanted the story in its entirety, Anna’s pain included. He couldn’t articulate why, maybe that he needed to know their pain was the same, that the fires he had stoked for so long in her presence were not a foolish spark. After a moment, Anna’s breath evened out and she raised her head again.

“Mom and I were pinned in the back. I don’t know if we were both unconscious, or if we tried to get out. I don’t remember. I’m kind of glad I don’t. The fire… they say the fire was tremendous. There was… there was nothing left of Mom.”

Anna swallowed.

“The way they found me, her body was covering the parts that didn’t get hit so bad in the fire. Like maybe she was protecting me… I try not to think about that too much…”

Silence. Adam’s throat went dry. He found himself suddenly wondering if parts of himself had been protected before they died. If somebody had tried to keep them from dying. It produced a weird, alien sensation, like he was suddenly separating from his skin and she shook his head quickly. Anna wasn’t looking at him.

“What was left of me was dead and gone long before they pulled it out of the fire. Both right limbs gone. Right lung gone, parts of the liver and digestive tract, an ovary and extensive damage to the uterus. Right eye blind due to skull trauma on impact. Massive third-degree burns across the whole body, blood loss… I was hamburger meat.”

Adam flinched.

“They pulled me out to take me to my father for burial. Unfortunately, Raymond Desormeaux proved to be… less than willing to let go in his grief.”

Anna flipped the holograms to another screen, a humanoid figure with parts of its body etched in red – the parts that the fire had consumed.

“There were a few cells still hanging on for dear life, bone marrow and heart tissue mainly, but he was able to start cultivating… well he was cultivating a new daughter is what he was doing.”

Anna’s voice turned harsh.

“The regen process that Sev used to clone her organs to keep herself young was brand new at that time. It hadn’t ever been tested, hadn’t even made it animal testing, to say nothing of human testing. It was shaky ground, and with the war it had been smothered almost to nothing. It had certainly never been utilized to clone organs in a dead person. What would have been the point? But Desormeaux didn’t care. He had a plan and he wasn’t letting go of it.”

“Anna- Anna Hui- told me about those days.” Anna said quietly, running her thumb over the lip of her coffee cup. “He was like a madman. He didn’t sleep. He didn’t eat. He kicked everyone out of the lab except her and the intern, Connor. Anna, because he knew she loved me and Connor because he was too stupid not to say no. He begged and borrowed and fought and stole for 56 hours until he had enough of the regen prototypes to mash together with his nanites, and then… he _brought me back_.”

Anna’s smile was cold, twisted and broken and she looked at Adam, halfway between screaming and sobbing. Adam’s heart hammered in his chest.

“Brought you back.” He repeated breathlessly.

“Pulled me out of the morgue where they were waiting for his signature to incinerate me.” Anna said icily. “Stole me. Pumped me full of adrenaline and regen-nanites and shocked a pile of dead and broken tissue with enough electricity to kill an elephant. Enough to trick the nanites into recognizing it as living tissue and get to work. Nanites power themselves by siphoning off small traces of the electricity our cells generate just by existing, so they won’t work on a corpse. But with the jolts he was giving me, they thought I was still alive, so they started rebuilding my tissue. Cell by cell, millimeter by millimeter, all except the bones I’d lost. Those he replaced with titanium polypropylene, grafting as much tissue as he could onto them so the nanites would start building on them.”

She ran her hands through her hair, the pinking scars on the back of her hand winking in and out of the tresses.

“It took months. Almost a full year. But one day, I just… opened my eyes and took my first breath on my own.” She signed and put her face in her hands.

“It hurt.” She murmured from between her fingers.

“I know.” Adam whispered.

Anna’s head jerked up, her eyes wide with disbelief. For a shaking, tremulous moment she looked terrified, as if she wouldn’t dare to hope. Then a single tear spilled down her cheek.

And here it was, the thing he never thought he’d get the chance to do. The impossible dream he’d had four hundred years ago, before the death of his father, before he’d ever learned of demons, or gargoyles, or worried about a soul. The moment to have someone, someone just like him. To be able to understand. To know. To have felt the same thing, the same horror and loneliness. He had never imagined it would ever come.

But Anna’s eyes shined at him through the tears, and something very deep inside of him unlocked. Had he always known that it would be here that he found it? Had he known the first morning he’d awoken with his hands around her throat, when she hadn’t responded with fear but with understanding?

Adam thought he might have. But the words solidified it, made it real. Slowly, he reached his hand out, laying it palm up across the table. Anna laughed, a soft, watery laugh, and placed her small, scarred hand in his.

The fire of Adam’s questions fell to embers, its warmth radiating throughout his entire body.

He wasn’t alone. Neither of them were alone.


	16. Chapter 16

Neither Adam nor Anna spoke for some time, letting the quiet understanding float between them, relishing in its presence, neither willing to be the first to break it.

But Anna’s brow furrowed as she stared at their hands and Adam asked the question he’d been holding back.

“Why’d you leave Nerium?” he asked, as gently as he could.

Anna’s face tensed, her grimace twisting her beautiful features into something painful.

“The war.” She said slowly. Then she shook her head. “There were… lots of reasons. But the war, eventually, was what got into my head.”

When Adam looked at her questioningly, she sighed and drew her hand back from his. It left him feeling cold.

“I told you it took almost a year before I even woke up.” She said. “It took much longer for me to get back up on my feet and acting like a real human again. Four years, just about. The nanites he was using initially were the “safe” kind, the ones that have a lifetime of only a few hours, days at most. That way the body could expel them and they weren’t permanent ‘bots that would ruffle any American feathers. But my body was in a constant state of relapse, my cells kept dying nearly as fast as he could replace them. So once the tissue was rebuilt, he had to invent a whole new kind of ‘bot, a permanent nanite that would remain inside me and constantly maintain the cells, keep them alive for as long as cells are normally supposed to be kept alive. The nanites in my body keep me alive, Adam. My systems fail without them after a certain amount of time.”

“How long?”

Anna shrugged.

“The last time the ‘nites failed I passed out after only 30 minutes. That was almost sixty years ago, and I don’t know if my body is any more stable than it was back then.” She gave him a nervous smile. “I haven’t been anxious to test it, since there are no more perma-nites.”

Something about the way her eyes slid away from his sent Adam’s curiosity into overdrive.

“Why aren’t there anymore?”

Anna winced and took a very long sip of coffee.

 “…Because I destroyed them all…” she finally said with the air of someone bracing themselves for a blow. When Adam offered her no reaction, she propped her chin on her hand and leaned on the lab table.

“Recovery is long and hard and boring. My life was reduced to the four walls of Nerium’s lab. Now, knowing me, how do you think that went over?”

“Not well.” Adam said.

“Not at all.” Anna agreed. “I wanted control over the nanites, and Connor helped me come up with the control bars on my arm. He had helped my dad developing the new tech, he knew exactly how to put them in my hands. Little shit thought he was such hot stuff, and I was so stir-crazy and lonely that I hung out with him just to keep myself sane. We started experimenting. For fun mostly, but it didn’t take me long to figure out that I could push the nanites, that I could push _myself_ to do things that were impossible. Super-strength almost, speed. All the things you’ve seen me do that I shouldn’t be able to. Healing wounds in a matter of minutes. It was kind of cool, being Wonder Woman. Until, very suddenly, it wasn’t.”

Her expression darkened and she grit her teeth.

“Raymond Desormeaux was… insane. With grief or just plain insane I don’t know.” She smirked. “Our fathers probably would have gotten along.”

Adam snorted and rolled his eyes.

“He nearly bankrupted the company trying to save me. My father’s entire focus was on me. Not on the company, not on sales or performance or innovation other than what might bring me back to life. So somebody, probably Severina now that I think about it, started selling the only thing Nerium had left, his new nanites. At first it was only the regens for cosmetic uses. Bottled immortality, or close enough to it. Then, after my experimentations had turned me into a super-hero, the perma-nanites started getting sold. To the Chinese.”

Adam took a deep breath.

“The war.”

“The war.” Anna agreed. “Nerium started double-dealing. Regens to the Americans. Perma-nites to the Chinese. We got rich again as the war started to become more than just skirmishes and sniping in the press. And conveniently, no one thought to tell me that the tech that had brought me back from wherever it is good little girls go when they die, was now going to send lots and lots of people to their deaths.”

She stopped talking suddenly. Slowly, reluctantly, she reached into her pocket and placed two things on the table with a clink; a bronze-colored coin, and a tarnish ring with one green stone. Adam stared at the ring for a heartbeat, his jaw working.

“Ezra was the one who finally told me what was going on.” Anna said softly, fingering the ring delicately, as if it might bite her.

Adam closed his eyes.

“Who was he?” He asked, dreading the answer.

“He was an engineer, one of Nerium’s finest. The brightest and the best. And… he was my fiancé.” Anna said after a moment. She stopped talking, and when Adam open his eyes she was staring at him.

“ _Was_ , Adam.” She said steadily. “Seventy years ago, now. And you heard him, his sons have sons.”

Adam bit his lip and nodded, then almost laughed at himself. Was he jealous? Jealous. Of a dead man. He sobered almost instantly, watching Anna’s eyes swim with things far gone and long over, her fingers circling the ring.

“He’d decided to tell me, against my father’s wishes. Stupid idiot… I told him after I’d woken up that he didn’t have to stay and wait. But he did. Said he wanted to do right by me. Idiot. Idiot, idiot, idiot…” Anna trailed off, the fingers of her left hand straying to her right arm, digging in as if the remind herself of everything she’d lost.

“So he told me, he told me because he wanted to do right by me. What Nerium was doing to make money, how my father was just… turning a blind eye as long as they let him keep his pet project. I was furious, at my father, at Severina, my best friend, for not telling me and at Ezra, for not speaking up sooner.”

Anna’s face worked and she shut her mouth abruptly.

“It was an accident, hurting him like I did.” She finally said through clenched teeth. “They’d started dosing me with steroid mixtures, trying to combat the cell decay, trying to wean me off the nanites. I don’t know what happened… but the things Ezra was telling me, that I was being used as a template for some kind of money-grubbing bid to keep the company afloat, that the nanites were being used to turn perfectly health soldiers into war machines, that Ezra hadn’t spoken out when it first started happening, that he hadn’t just _let me go._ ”

She bit off her words and stifled a sob.

“I cranked my levels, sent to ‘nites into overdrive and broke his leg.” Anna said, a crazy, on-the-edge smile dancing across her face before it was replaced with a trembling scowl. “Three clean breaks. Fucked him up real good. I puked all over myself and then I told them to keep him out. Keep _everybody_ out. I broke the lab doors, locked myself in. I couldn’t hurt anybody if I was locked in, and they couldn’t monitor my progress if I turned off all the machines, couldn’t make improvements to their war machines if they didn’t have access to Patient Zero. If I could shut myself away, I could fix it.”

Adam felt a rush of pity; he knew that helplessness. He remembered.

“But Connor wouldn’t leave it alone.” Anna continued, wiping the tears out of her eyes.  “Sat outside the door and talked to me until, finally, I let him in. Just him. He was a sweet kid, and we were friends… and I was lonely. What I’d done to Ezra devastated me, and I didn’t ever want to face him again. But I needed _somebody_. Unfortunately, Connor was less the friend I thought he was, and more Severina’s errand boy.”

Anna huffed angrily.

“Some things never change, I guess.”

Heat flooded Adam’s skin as he remembered the way Connor, now aged, had looked at Anna in the Tower.

“What did he do to you?” He ground out.

“Nothing at first. Comforted me a little. Then he started talking about Nerium’s plans for expansion, how they could build Towers all across the world if they could expand their nanite production.”

She laughed grimly.

“He, and by he I mean Severina, wanted me to be their spokesperson, the face of the new Nerium. I told him he was insane, and I tried to throw him out of the lab.”

“Tried?” Adam asked.

“Yeah. Tried.” Anna spat. “He had a controller. That little bastard had taken the spec for my control holographic and made one for himself, only this one didn’t just put the nanites into overdrive. No, this one, gave him total control over the nanites and their functions, and therefore over me. He could instruct the nanites to halt my muscle function, freeze me in place. Or… make me stand there while he kissed me and told me he’d take better care of me than Ezra and made me kiss him back.”

Adam’s body went rigid as fury coursed through him, so ferocious and hot that it rendered him unable to do anything other than suck air through his teeth and try to formulate the precise profanity that would elucidate exactly how much he wanted to murder someone. Anna watched him struggle with a sympathetic, albeit still disgusted look.

“I felt about the same. So as soon as he let me speak I told him I’d help him. He unlocked me long enough for me to crank and rip his arm out of his socket.”

Adam barked a laugh. Suddenly it sickened him less that the arm had been real when Anna had done it the first time. He was feeling like he’d tear the little man’s throat out if he ever saw him again.  

“While everyone was dithering over Connor and trying to decide how to contain me, I wiped everything clean, everything they had on me. I knew that system inside and out, I knew every possible place information could go to hide. I took all of it and burnt it to a metaphorical crisp. Scrambled the system until it looked like ramen noodles and then torched the lab.”

She pulled her hair back from her face, pressing her fingers into her temples.

“That’s when I found out I was Project Legacy.”

She snorted.

“Legacy alright. Legacy of blood and destruction.” She said as more tears streaked down her face. “Anna helped smuggle me out. We found sanctuary with Janelle on the front lines in Turkey, gearing up for the inevitable war. Janelle had no idea what had happened, but she was so bogged down in preparations it didn’t matter why we were there, only that we were willing and able bodies. Anna and I joined the Nocturnes, the civilian volunteer medical unit. I dragged Anna with me, half to hide her and half to use her to devise ways to destroy the nanites. Janelle got us set up and we went marching, marching, marching to the Symphony, where I got to see firsthand the destruction that my father’s god-forsaken unwillingness to fucking let go had wrought.”

“You were at the Symphony?” Adam asked, dumbfounded. “Actually _at_ the Symphony?”

“The first great battle of the war? Yes, I was at the Symphony, with the Nocturnes, and Adagios, and Rhapsodies and all the other nanite-injected overdriven little music notes that played the funeral march.” Anna said viciously. “Anna and I planted EMP bombs all along the battlefields when we travelled with the Nocturnes. That’s how I got so good with EMP weapons. We destroyed as many nanites as we could, for as long as we could until…”

Anna closed her mouth with a click. Adam took a step closer to her.

“Until?”

“Until we got shot.” Anna sobbed. “Until I got up with three bullet holes in me and Anna didn’t. Janelle and the other Marines ran me off for being a ‘bot. The Americans and the Chinese launched nukes after the smoke of the Symphony cleared. The world went to shit and I kept hunting down nanites, killing the factories that countries couldn’t rebuild, erasing data, until I stamped them out. All of them.”

She looked out the window, where the lifeless Tower stood like a dagger stabbing upward into the sky.

“It took me twenty years before I realized the nanites weren’t going to let me die.” She whispered. “I almost EMP-ed myself, you know. About year ten when I realized I wasn’t aging. Don’t ask me why I didn’t…”

“I don’t have to.” Adam interrupted.

Anna’s eyes flew to meet his, wide and afraid.

“I know why.” Adam said, fumbling for his words as he moved cautiously towards her. “I used to ask myself the same question. Why didn’t I just end it? I was a monster, and I was always going to be a monster, and alone. What was the point of continuing on?”

Adam swallowed and forced himself to keep his gaze levelled on Anna.

‘Don’t let her give up’ Cortana had said. ‘You can’t let her give up.’

He reached out and took one of Anna’ hands in his. How did he stop the despair? How had he done it, all those decades ago, so faded now in his memory?

“Why do you keep going?” Anna whispered.

“For me, it was because I didn’t ask to be created instead of born. Spite, at first, I guess. But I was alive. Alive, despite the best efforts of... hell, _everything_. And I believed I deserved to keep living.”

Anna took a hiccupping breath.

“Adam, Leonore said the demons were in Nerium since it was built. What if-“ She stopped and sobbed. “What if they had something to do with me coming back? It shouldn’t have worked, Adam, dad;s plan shouldn’t have worked. The brain death, the age of decay… I shouldn’t be here. But… here I am… What if I’m only here to serve the demon’s purpose?”

“I don’t believe that.” Adam said roughly, stepping closer to her as if he could intimidate her fears away. He’d strangle them if he could. That’s something he was good at.

“Even if it was true, it wouldn’t matter. Look at me.” He said, gesturing to himself. “I was created with science that was dubious at best. The work of a madman. But I am _here_. I am here, fighting. Every day. What your father did, what my father did, doesn’t matter. What we do now, with the life they gave us, or gave us back, that is what matters. I claimed the Order’s war when the demons came between me and somebody that I… that I loved.”

He stumbled over his words and ground his teeth together. He met Anna’s questioning eyes with a pained smile.

“It was two hundred years ago now.” He said, an echo of Anna’s own comment about Ezra. Some of the tension in Anna’s shoulders vanished and begrudging smile ghosted across her lips.

“That’s why you keep going.” He whispered. “That’s why you don’t end it.”

“So, what do I fight for?” Anna asked. “Or… who?”

Adam stared at her, a long, measured look, before reaching out timidly and brushing a lock of hair back from her face.

“Not… for me to say.” He said, dropping his eyes. “You have to decide that yourself.”

It wasn’t what he _wanted_ to say. He wanted to say, ‘Me. Only me. For the rest of however long our bodies let us live. Me.’ The opposite was true for him; it was her he’d fight for. Even if she turned him out, even if he never came back to Nerium city. Anna would be the one he fought for.

“But whatever you do decide, I will be here,” He said, feeling his cheeks flush. “No matter what may come. I will be here.”

He wasn’t used to being this vulnerable. It was one thing for her to handle his kali, or fight beside him. Those things had happened by accident. But this… this was him opening his rib cage and handing her the knife to stab him with. He tried to keep his breathing even, as he waited for her to speak.

“And if the demons created me?” She asked. “If I was made to serve their purpose?”

Challenging him. Making him accept the reality of it, the whole thing. He let himself smile. Hadn’t he done the same to Terra?

“Then I’ll show you how to take your purpose back.” He said fiercely, and lifted his eyes to Anna’s again.

His breath caught in his throat.

Something elusive was shining in the grey depths. It was as if she had never seen him before, like he had just stumbled through her door again. The pain of the story she had dredged up from a lifetime of memories still lingered at the edges of her; her lips trembling, her eyes still red and wet. But there was something else too; The beginnings of acceptance. The beginnings of hope. He opened his mouth to speak, but his words halted, vanishing as Anna slowly lifted her scarred hand and touched her fingertips to Adam’s lips.

It sent a slow wave of energy through him and his eyes fluttered closed for a moment before focusing entirely on Anna. He unconsciously leaned into the touch as she ran her thumb over his bottom lip, then across one of the scars on his face. The fire that had been kindling in him almost since he’d first stepped foot into her world flared, glowing beneath his skin. Adam stayed stock-still as she considered him, unsure what he was waiting for and yet breathlessly anticipating it all the same.

Finally, with agonizing tenderness, Anna tilted her chin forward and stood up on her toes to press her lips against his. Adam tensed for the barest moment, fiercely afraid of it, before he gave himself over to the rush of tangled feeling that leapt in him as his heart hammered in his ears. He brought his hands up to curl around her shoulders, barely touching her yet pulling her closer until her hands pressed against his chest. Time hung frozen, suspended around them. Nothing mattered except the press of her skin to his and the horrible, wonderful rush of his own heartbeat matching hers.

As if by design they pulled apart. Apart, but not back. Anna lowered her heels to the ground but kept her forehead press against Adam’s chest, right where his neck met his torso. He breathed in the smell of her hair (ash and fire) and tentatively pulled one hand from her shoulder to cradle her head against him.

“I’m going to fight.” She said after several long moments.

Adam closed his eyes and pressed his lips to her hairline.

“I know.” He said.

 The feeling of her smiling against his shirt filled him with a kind of joy he thought he would never live to see. The red glow of the aching sky turned to blue, then purple and the stars, no longer banished by the light of Nerium Tower, twinkled quietly.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I said two chapters I meant three. :D

“How do we start?” He asked her several days later.

Anna held the strange coin in her hand, running her thumb over the dull surface, her eyes narrowed and full of memory. She had barely set it down since the morning she’d awoken.

Keziah and Ophir stood on the edges of the lab while Kit draped over the table, his head propped on his hands. Cortana flickered nearby, her eyes drifting every so often to Anna and then roughly away again. The gargoyles had sent one representative or another to Anna’s flat to report on the progress of the information, but Keziah and Ophir had remained, guarding and watching, not entirely with permission. In light of the revelation of the demon’s new ability to kill gargoyles the Order had fallen into disarray, they reported. Leonore spent most of her time in furious prayer, with many of their brothers and sisters join her, or anxiously waiting for the next move.

“There aren’t enough of us for an attack” Ophir offered lightly. “Not with the improvements the demons have made to their weaponry. We would be demolished before we ever broached the citadel.”

“How did they devise such tools?” Keziah said. She’d been repeating that one question over and over again since her return from the Tower, mystified, sorrowful. Disbelief on the edge of despair.

“Humans.” Anna said. “They let humans develop weapons for them.”

The room was quiet as they nodded, each in their own world of understanding what that meant. The newly-lit tower

“I know that Leonore probably doesn’t trust me much after…” Anna started, then swallowed hard. “After the Tower. But I think it might be time to consider you guys do the same thing.”

“Give our fates into the hands of humans?” Keziah asked.

Adam looked her over with mild surprise. He’d expected her to react more violently. Or laugh. But her face was merely pensive as she waited for Anna’s answer.

Anna sighed deeply.

“I’m not sure yet, but it might behoove her to consider it.” She said. She still sounded exhausted. “That’s how the demons have gotten the drop on y’all; by bribing humans to help them. It might be time for you to let go of some of your reservations if you want to win this war.”

She glanced at the Tower.

“I don’t know what they’re doing in there yet, but I can guarantee it’s not good for any of us.”

“When _will_ we know more?” Adam asked.

“Another day or so, I’ll have the information decrypted.” Cortana said. “I’m running decryptions on it constantly, but whoever put them is place was very good.”

“Not surprising. Tower’s always been locked up tight.” Kit said, watching Anna with worried eyes. “Anna, even if we figure out what all they’ve got going on, we don’t exactly have a way to strike back.” He crossed his arms and sank down to rest his chin on top. “We don’t exactly have an army.”

The corners of Anna’s mouth twitched ever so slightly.

“Maybe not.” She said softly.

She turned the coin over in her hand, staring at it intensely.

“When Ezra and I were dating, we built coins like this.” She said absently, as if she were talking to herself. “We were apart so much, travelling all over the place to negotiate. There were raids all the time, little hits here and there. Every now and again a plane would get shot down. So, we’d keep these in our pockets…”

She pinched the coin in the center between her thumb and first finger, gripping the outside edge with her other hand. “If one of us went missing, we’d activate them…” She moved her fingers, spinning the edge of the coin around the center point until there was an audible click. Cortana stood straight upright from where she’d been leaning on the wall, her eyes surprised.

“There’s a ping.” Cortana said.

Anna nodded.

“A GPS ping.” She confirmed. “Whoever’s got the other coin is getting a ping-back.”

“And…who has the other coin?” Keziah asked, suspicion and alarm crossing her face.

Anna shook her head, continuing to star at the device.  

“I don’t know. Ezra slipped it into my pocket in the Tower.” She said, setting the coin on the table with a gentle clink. “he didn’t have time to tell me much.”

“Why?” Kit asked, picking up the coin curiously.

“I don’t know.” Anna said again. “But… I think he may have had a plan.”

She met Adam’s eyes, careful, cautious hope swimming to him across the lab.

“If he did, whoever got that ping might be able to help. We have to let the data get sorted anyway…Might as well wait and see what happens.”

She shrugged and leaned back, her fingers working over her scarred shoulder under her jacket.

“Not much more we can lose.”

 

 

 

 

Anna’s haunting sentiment seemed to break whatever pall had hung around the flat since the mission into the Tower. Rather than being ominous, it was a sort of fatal truth they all seized. What _did_ they have to lose? What else could be taken from them? Keziah and Ophir’s moods, in particular, seemed to brighten. There was a sense between them of returning to the fight, the last great march to glory if not to victory. Even Kit, young and sensitive as he was to death, seemed grim and determined as he hovered behind Cortana as she flashed through screen after screen of Tower data.

Kennedy had not returned to the flat.

“I don’t think it’s for fear of Anna, if that’s what concerns you.” Keziah confessed when Adam asked after the girl. “She’s made herself a nest in the chapel. I think she enjoys being doted on by the others, they’ve never had care of a child before and they’re all fascinated. Leonore, in particular, seems to want to be with her all the time.” A tiny smile. “She’s teaching her how to pray.”

For his part, Adam was uncertain how to feel. He thought he would feel his blood began to burn for the desperate fight again, his mind driven to a singular purpose against his enemy as it had been for so very long. When Anna had whispered her desire to fight, it had swept him up, the memory of their shared fight only a few days ago when she had nearly exhausted herself dancing bright and fierce across his mind. How good it had been, how true, how _right_.

But in the waiting days that followed, the gravity of the endeavor she was proposing draped over his shoulders, a heavy blanket of realization.

It wasn’t just his own life he could lose now. He could lose _her_.

It was something he’d only ever had to face once, when Terra had been forced into his life, and despite his age he found himself still woefully unprepared to reconcile it.  But Anna wasn’t Terra. Anna could descend a demon, had descended more than he had in the first five years of his life. Things were different. The fear of losing her still haunted his thoughts as the memory of how it felt to kiss her came on him suddenly now and again when he looked at her.

He didn’t want that to vanish, he never wanted to be without her again. And in the shadows of his mind, hardly realizing the decision he was coming to, he made himself a promise.

If Anna fell in the fire, he would fall with her.  

 

 

 

It was one week later, as the Tower flickered back to life, that Adam stumbled down from his room to find Anna seated tensely with two young men, their faces so strikingly familiar that Adam pulled up short and stared at them in shock.

“Adam,” Anna said quietly, beckoning him closer, “These are Ezra’s grandsons.”

“A pleasure” said the leather-jacketed man, his nose ring sparkling in the light as he stood and bowed slightly. “I’m Ojas, and this is my cousin, Neerav.”

The other nodded his head but did not rise. He looked heavy, like he was struggling under the weight of his grandfather’s loss more than his cousin.

“They were the ones who had Ezra’s other coins.” Anna said. “They’ve come to help us.”

Adam sat, wary, as the two dark-eyed brothers eyed him with a mixture of curiosity. Their faces bore shadows of the man who had once loved Anna; the shape of Ojas’ nose, of Neerav’s chin, the fiercely intelligent eyes and Ezra’s accent hanging around their mouths like smoke. Neerav wore subdued but neat citadel clothes, all straight lines and officiality. The sides of Ojas’ head were cut in complicated patterns and swirls while the rest was gathered into a top-knot. Tattoos danced across his knuckles as he drummed his fingers against the table.

“Our parents do not know we’re here.” He said. “They… did not share grandfather’s views on Nerium. ‘They’ve been so good to our family’ our mother says.” He jeered, adopting a nasal tone, then scoffed. “Good enough to keep us indebted for the rest of our lives. Indentured servitude, like. The Witch kept grandfather under her thumb, and us too as much as she could.”

“The witch?” Anna asked.  

“Ramos.” Neerav said, his voice quiet but filled with venom.

“Ah.” Anna said with a smirk. “Severina.”

Ojas sneered.

He fixed Anna with a wicked smile. “We’ve been looking for a way to get into the Tower for a large-scale movement for as long as I can remember. Our fathers would disagree, but I don’t think things at Nerium are going to change without a fight.”

“You’re right.” Anna said. She folded her hands and bit her lip. “Cort’s finished her data sorting. Adam, get Ophir and Keziah to summon the Queen. Cort, ring Kit, I want him here. Let’s see if this whole venture was worth it. And you two,” She said, pointing to the two young men. “You need a pre-briefing briefing. I’ll make coffee.”

“I don’t drink coffee.” Ojas said.

“You’re going to want to in about five minutes.”

“Why?”

“To convince yourself you’re not dreaming.”

An hour later they all clustered in the living room around a myriad of Cortana’s flickering screens. Kennedy had returned with the Queen and her entourage, running first to encircle Anna’s legs in a brief, Kennedy-like non-hug before crawling onto Adam’s shoulders as he settled on one of the couches. Leonore and Magdalene cast despairing glances at the two new additions to their meeting while Ezra’s grandsons stared, Nareev at the gargoyles and Ojas at Kit, who was doing his best not to stare back. The atmosphere was tense and uncomfortable as they all regarded each other with a cloying kind of jitteriness, all asking variations of the same question: what was Nerium hiding?

“So… I guess I’ll just start.” Cortana said, wringing her digital hands nervously.

She turned and brought two of the screens forward.

“There was… a lot to parse through.” She said. “Nerium is involved in a lot of shady projects, so many I kept thinking I’d reached the bottom of the barrel when I’d find something else and it would be a whole ‘nother rabbit hole of awful.”

A list began to scroll down the screen behind her head.

“Weapons testing near cities without clearance, human testing on cell regrowth syrums. Nuclear harvesting, black market organ cloning. They’re into almost everything you can think of.”

“Our grandfather knew as much.” Ojas piped up, “We have dossiers longer than the one you have. They’ve all been passed along to authorities in every major country that still has sanctioning power. They’ve had sanctions levied against them and they’ve been fined and-”

“Here’s the thing.” Cortana interrupted, “Nerium knows that, and they don’t care. It doesn’t matter to them. The fact is, the shady stuff is kind of overt. The security on the information is robust but nothing like what I’d expect from a high-profile corporation. It’s like they were barely trying to hide it. And I think I know why.”

She pointed to another display window.

“It’s a distraction from what Nerium is really doing. Their R&D department has pockets of severely encrypted data, but on the surface its all pretty clean stuff. Robotic experimentation, things like that. Nothing suspicious. On the surface, it looks harmless.”

“And beneath the surface?” Neerav said, his glasses reflecting the holograms and obscuring his eyes.

Cortana frowned and waved her hands over another screen and a disjointed video began to play. She crossed her arms over her chest and provided narration over the silent images.

“They’re testing nanites on willing human subjects, people high up in Nerium. Not Sev, or Ezra from what I can tell, but there are plenty of other volunteers. These new nanites are perma-nites, designed to remain in a host indefinitely, and like Anna’s are remotely controllable however, not by the host.”

Anna dug her fingers into her right forearm, staring up at the screen with a dire expression. Without a word, Adam quietly pried her fingers up and clasped her hand in his considerably larger one. She didn’t break her staring contest with Cortana’s presentation.

“The ‘nites have a… well a freaking impossible assignment, frankly.” Cortana said with a frown. “They have them tasked to cut a person’s soul from their body.”

Adam took a sharp breath and his heart quailed in a way it hadn’t in centuries. His soul, taken away again?

“Is it possible?” Ojas asked, directing the question to his cousin.

Neerav folded his hands under his chin.

“No one know exactly what a “soul” is.” He said thoughtfully. “Our own thoughts are nothing more than electrical signals. Perhaps a soul is something similar. And if that is the case then yes, there could be a way to stop that current. The question is; why?”

“They want empty vessels for demons. Again.” Magdalene growled. “Demons that want to reclaim the earth.”

“Demons?” Ojas asked tremulously his eyes going wide with disbelief.

“Yeah, it’s bit of a mess,” Kit said, “You see-“

“Later.” Anna barked, then redirected her attention on Cortana. “Have they succeeded in attaching a demon to a human host?”

“Depends on what you call succeeding.” Cortana said. “They _have_ figured out how to separate a soul from its body with the nanites. What they have _not_ figured out is how to attach a demon to the host.”

 “The summoning didn’t work?” Adam asked breathlessly, hope sparkling through the clouds.

“Nope.” Cortana confirmed. “There is something wrong with the severing process; they think the cut isn’t clean and bits of soul are enough to keep the demon from latching onto the host.”

Adam breathed a short sigh of relief, falling back against the couch cushions. For the moment, the danger was still far off.

Cortana fidgeted with her hands and stared at the floor.

“However, it has worked.” She said hesitantly. “Once.”

The air in the room went very still.

“Me.” Anna said quietly. “Project Legacy.”

“Yes.” Cortana replied helplessly. “Your father figured it out after several months of treating you. The reason you weren’t coming back even though your body was essentially functional enough to support itself, and why the tissue kept dying. You needed a soul. He scanned and probed and chased down every lead he could until he figured out what to make the nanites look for. He didn’t just pull your body out of the incinerator, he pulled your soul back from where ever it had gone.”

Anna covered her face with her hands.

“So… the demons _were_ responsible for me coming back.” She said, fury dancing on the edges of her voice.

“No, Chief, they weren’t.” Cortana insisted. “Desormeaux brought you back before the demons began to take over parts of Nerium. They had infiltrated the company by the time you were revived, but didn’t have control of it and they _definitely_ weren’t working with your father.”

“Then how did the demons figure out how to attack a soul?” Ophir demanded. “Surely he gave them the information at some point.”

Cortana shook her head.

“ _He_ never did. It wasn’t part of Project Legacy, he never included it.” Cortana said. “As far as I can tell, he figured out how to program the ‘nites to save your soul, did it, then purged the program from Nerium _and_ his personal records. All that it says in his notes was that he figured out how to make it work, but not how he did it. He was very thorough.” Cortana’s voice dropped. “You’re the only soul he ever wanted to have brought back, Chief.”

“Well it’s not like it helped much.” Anna scoffed roughly. “The demons still got the info.”

“There’s a reason for that, Chief.” Cortana said. “Something I think you’ll want to see.”

The AI waved her hands again and pulled a larger screen to the forefront. It crackled, then flashed up an image of a lab very similar to the one they had seen in the Tower.

Demons stood in clusters, their true faces sneering at the few humans that dotted the room.

“Holy shit.” Ojas whispered.

“He wasn’t mad.” Neerav said wonderingly. “There _are_ demons in Nerium.”

A commotion occurred off-camera, then two sour-faced demons appeared, dragging a protesting, frightened Raymond Desormeaux between them. Anna inhaled sharply as the man’s head whipped back and forth, shouting at his human employees for help.

None of them looked his way. He spat tired, desperate curses at them, falling silent as Severina Ramos glided into view.

“Don’t do this, Sev.” Desormeaux begged. “Please, don’t do this!”

“I wouldn’t have to if you’d just tell us how you brought Liz back.” Severnia said coldly, one hand on her hip. “Look, there’s little point to fighting it. The demons have promised Nerium’s safety, just give them what they want.”

“Bringing Elizabeth back was a _mistake_!” Desormeaux shouted.

Anna violently flinched. Every eye in the room turned to her, but she remained rivetted on the screen.

“You saw how long it took her, how painful it was for her to recover. In the end she ran, furious at me for what I’d made her into. And she was right! No good has come of those nanites and none ever will. I wish I could go back and lay her to rest like I should have!”

A brittle, warring look swept over Anna’s face, one that Adam felt he knew very well; it would take Anna a long time to reconcile her father’s decisions. A shaft of light had just been shined into the pit of her hatred and anger. Another long, hard road of mending. But a door previously closed had been opened, and Anna alone would decide if she’d step through it or not.

“If you had, we wouldn’t be in such a prime position to receive the Horde’s business, Raymond.” Severina purred onscreen. She reached up and caressed his cheek almost lovingly. “No sense in crying over the past. Move onto the future, love!”

“Not a chance.” Desormeaux spat. “I’d rather die.”

Severina shrugged.

“Ok.”

She motioned to the demons, who dragged the aging man to a waiting scientist armed with a glittering syringe. Looking as bored as if they were doing nothing more than crunching data, the scientist plunged the needle into Desormeaux’s neck, unloading the syringe’s contents into his bloodstream as Anna’s father screamed futile protests.

“Cort, is that…?” Anna asked tremulously.

“They’re some of yours.” Cortana confirmed grimly. “They logged this as an experiment, so there was a list of supplies. They’re spares kept to replenish your compliment if you ever needed it. Leftovers you missed in the fire, loaded with your father’s program.”    

“Shit…” Anna whispered, pulling her hands over her mouth.

Adam watched the screen with a horrid fascination as a pentagram was drawn on Desormeaux’s forehead, and the chanting began. The demons dropped him unceremoniously to the floor; there was no escape now. Severina picked up a tablet as the demons reached a frenzy and smirked at Desormeaux.

“Nothing personal” She said, her smile flashing a shadow of the ruthless woman she would become, her nails tapping a fatal tattoo as she set the nanites to work.

There was no scream. It wasn’t painful apparently, losing your soul. But a chill swept the room as the pain, regret and betrayal vanished from Desormeaux’s eyes, replaced with… nothing.

He was an empty shell.

Adam swallowed, his throat as dry as sand.

A black cloud engulfed Desormeaux’s body and Adam shivered, memories crowding his mind’s eye. He remembered the smell, the taste of ash in his mouth, and he worked his jaw as if to chew the memory and swallow it gone.

When Desormeaux rose, the cold, dead eyes were filled with malice.

The demons before him bowed.

“Naberius.” Leonore hissed.

Onscreen the demons fell over themselves bowing to their returned lord, who stalked to Severina and stroked her cheek lovingly.

“Turn it off.” Anna snapped, rising and moving to the windows facing Nerium tower, crossing her arms over her chest stiffly.

Cortana ended the video and sighed. No one spoke for a long moment as the frozen image of Naberius’s cruel smile on Raymond Desormeaux’s kind face burned into their minds.


End file.
